THE  MISSIONAR 
^  MANIFESTO 


(g)    G.CAMPBELL  MORGAN 

/  /  ,     ^^Ij  ,  O  <; 


j^^  "lit. 

■^^  PRINCETON,  N.  J.  ^VJ 


Purchased   by  the  Hamill   Missionary   Fund, 


BV  2060  .M7  1909a 
Morgan,  G.  Campbell  1863- 

1945. 
The  missionary  manifesto 


THE  MISSIONARY  MANIFESTO 


By  G.  CAMPBELL  MORGAN 


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The 


^'     i\'Oy  24  190! 


Missionary  Manifesto 


By  V 
G.  CAMPBELL  MORGAN 


New  York  Chicago         Toronto 

Fleming  H.  Revell  Company 


London 


AND 


Edinburgh 


Copyright,  1909,  by 
FLEMING  H.  REVELL  COMPANY 


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To 
JOHN  GREGORY  MANTLE 

to  whose  friendship  and  interpretation 

I  owe  more  than  I  can  ever  tell 

for  fnissionary  interest  and 

iftspiration^  I  dedicate 

these  lectures 


CONTENTS 

I.  The  Fourfold  Commission 

II.  The  Authority  of  the  King 

III.  The  Evangel  to  Creation 

IV.  The  Witnesses 

V.  The  Remission  of  Sins    . 

VI.  The  Fourfold  Resource  and  Re 

SPONSIBILITY 


II 

35 

59 

85 

III 

^17 


THE  FOURFOLD  COMMISSION 


"  And  Jesus  came  to  them  and  spake  unto  them, 
saying.  All  authority  hath  been  given  unto  Me  in 
heaven  and  on  earth.  Go  ye  therefore,  and  disciple 
the  nations,  baptizing  them  into  the  name  of  the 
Father  and  of  the  Son  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost :  teach- 
ing them  to  observe  all  things  whatsoever  I  commanded 
you  :  and  lo,  I  am  with  you  all  the  days,  even  unto  the 
consummation  of  the  age.'''* — Matthew  28:1 8-20. 

"And  He  said  unto  them.  Go  ye  into  all  the  kosmos 
and  preach  the  gospel  to  the  whole  creation.  He  that 
believeth  and  is  baptized  shall  be  saved ;  but  he  that 
disbelieveth  shall  he  condemned.^^ — Mark  16:  15,  16. 

"  Ye  are  witnesses  of  these  things.  And  behold,  I 
send  forth  the  promise  of  My  Father  upon  you:  but 
tarry  ye  in  the  city,  until  ye  be  clothed  with  power 
from  on  highJ*^ — Luke  24  :  48,  49. 

"Jesus  therefore  said  to  them  again.  Peace  be  unto 
you  :  as  the  Father  hath  sent  Me,  even  so  send  I  you. 
And  when  He  had  said  this.  He  breathed  on  them, 
and  saith  unto  them.  Receive  ye  the  Holy  Ghost : 
whosesoever  sins  ye  forgive,  they  are  forgiven  unto 
them  ;  whosesoever  sins  ye  retain,  they  are  retained.^* 
— John  20:  21-23. 


THE  FOUEFOLD  COMMISSION 

ANY  one  reading  these  passages  of  Scrip- 
ture for  the  first  time  would  certainly 
be  quite  as  much  impressed  by  their 
disparities  as  by  their  similarities. 

It  is  the  custom  of  the  Christian  Church  to 
speak  of  the  commission  of  Jesus,  as  though  there 
were  but  one,  which  the  four  evangelists  record 
in  different  words.  This  conception  is  the  result 
of  superficial  observation,  and  the  measure  in 
which  it  dominates  our  thinking  is  the  measure 
in  which  we  fail  to  recognize  the  spaciousness 
and  inclusiveness  of  the  missionary  commission, 
and  fail  therefore  to  understand  the  real  re- 
sponsibility of  the  Church. 

On  the  other  hand,  there  are  those  who,  rec- 
ognizing the  differences  between  the  records  of 
the  evangelists,  affirm  that  they  contradict  each 
other. 

In  order  to  avoid  these  two  mistakes — that  on 
the  one  hand  of  imagining  that  we  have  four  re- 
ports of  one  commission  in  different  words  ;  and 
11 


12        THE  MISSIONAEY  MANIFESTO 

that  on  the  other  hand  of  imagining  that  the  four 
contradict  each  other — it  is  important  that  we 
should  recognize  the  true  nature  of  these  Gospel 
narratives.  I  am  growingly  convinced  that  the 
measure  in  which  we  recognize  the  humanity  of 
them,  is  the  measure  in  which  we  shall  be  driven 
to  the  conclusion  that  they  are  infinitely  more 
than  human.  To  come  to  a  study  of  them  with 
a  foregone  and  mechanical  conception  of  inspira- 
tion is  to  miss  the  music  of  their  harmony,  and 
to  fail  to  discover  the  ultimate  meaning  of  their 


These  Gospels  are  the  narratives  of  four  men, 
of  different  temperament,  and  consequently  of 
different  outlook.  They  are  the  natural,  simple, 
and  truthful  accounts  of  things  which  they  either 
saw  and  heard  themselves,  or  learned  from  eye- 
witnesses. In  these  stories,  then,  we  gather  the 
impressions  which  were  made  upon  these  differ- 
ent men  by  the  Person  of  Christ,  and  by  His 
teaching. 

This  is  equally  true  of  the  records  of  the  hap- 
penings after  the  resurrection,  as  of  the  account 
of  events  in  the  life  and  ministry  of  Jesus,  which 
culminated  in  the  Cross.  All  the  evangelists  tell 
the  story  of  the  death  and  resurrection  of  Jesus. 


THE  FOUEFOLD  COMMISSION        13 

Morever,  they  all  give  some  account  of  the  events 
happening  subsequently  to  resurrection.  Neither 
of  them  gives  a  detailed  account  of  aU  that' Jesus 
did  or  said^in  the  forty  days  that  passed_between 
His  resurrection'and  ascension.  They  rather  de- 
scribe with  perfect  naturalness  those  doings  of 
Jesus,  or  record  with  simple  accuracy  those  of 
His  words,  which  impressed  them.  They  looked 
upon  Him,  and  listened  to  Him  in  the  upper 
room  in  Jerusalem,  on  the  highways  where  they 
walked  with  Him,  on  the  slopes  of  Olivet,  or  on 
the  shores  of  the  lake  ;  or  they  heard  the  account 
of  these  things  from  those  who  did  so  look  and 
listen  to  Him.  Each  man  was  impressed  by 
things  which  Jesus  did  and  said  according  to  his 
natural  temperament. 

This  is  perfectly  natural,  and  is  illustrated  by 
the  fact  that  it  is  always  true  that  having  listened 
to  the  address  of  a  teacher,  or  the  sermon  of  a 
preacher,  any  company  of  men,  gathering  to- 
gether afterwards  to  discuss  the  message,  would 
find  that  different  parts  of  the  address  would 
have  impressed  each  man,  largely  according  to 
his  temperament  or  need. 

Eecognizing  this  fact,  we  begin  to  understand 
these  Gospel  narratives.     The  harmony  of  result 


14        THE  MISSIONAEY  MANIFESTO 

proves  the  Divine  overruling  and  choice  of  in- 
struments. The  choosing  of  each  of  the  evan- 
gelists for  the  writing  of  the  story  was  the  choos- 
ing of  the  Spirit  j  and  the  principle  of  choice  was 
the  necessity  for  recording  and  retaining,  for  the 
coming  centuries,  the  very  things  which  each 
man  would  naturally  write. 

Thus  to  begin  on  the  human  level  is  to  be 
driven  to  the  conclusion  of  the  Divinity  of  these 
narratives.  When  we  understand  that  these  are 
perfectly  simple  and  artless  stories,  written  by 
men  who  had  no  conception  that  they  were  in- 
spired ;  and  when  we  review  the  whole,  and  dis- 
cover how  part  fits  to  part,  and  how  each  revela- 
tion complements  the  others,  until  the  four  merge 
into  the  perfect  presentation  of  a  perfect  Person, 
then  we  see  that  these  men  ;  who  wrote  truthfully, 
simply,  and  artlessly,  on  human  levels;  were 
guided,  directed,  inspired,  by  one  Master-mind 
for  the  revelation  to  all  time  of  great  and  suf- 
ficient truth. 

If  that  be  true  of  the  whole  Book,  it  is  cer- 
tainly true  of  the  commission  of  Jesus.  The 
complete  manifesto  of  missionary  enterprise  is 
not  contained  in  any  one  Gospel.  If  we  would 
know  what  the  missionary  responsibility  of  the 


THE  FOTJEFOLD  COMMISSIOK         15 

Church  really  is,  it  is  not  enough  to  read  what 
Matthew  has  written.  We  must  also  read  what 
Mark  records,  what  Luke  reports,  and  what 
John  reveals.  We  must  gather  the  whole  mani- 
festo from  the  harmony  of  these  Gospel  revela- 
tions. 

In  this  introductory  chapter  I  propose  in  barest 
outline  to  consider  the  whole  commission.  In 
succeeding  chapters  I  shall  take  the  separate 
parts  thereof,  as  reported  in  the  four  Gospels, 
and  consider  each  carefully ;  finally  dealing  with 
the  resources  and  consequent  responsibilities  thus 
revealed. 

Before  the  harmony  of  the  Missionary  Com- 
mission can  be  appreciated,  the  harmony  of  the 
Gospels  in  their  presentation  of  the  Person  of  the 
Christ  must  be  recognized.  We  have  all  at  some 
time  either  purchased  a  harmony  of  the  Gospels, 
or  attempted  to  arrange  these  stories  in  chrono- 
logical order.  The  result  of  our  purchase,  or  our 
labour,  has  been  unsatisfactory.  In  such  labour 
I  personally  discovered  the  impossibility  of  the 
task.  It  is  well  to  remember,  moreover,  that 
when  a  chronological  harmony  of  the  Gospels  is 
attempted,  the  one  so  attempting  is  in  grave 
peril  of  destroying  the  spiritual  harmony.     This 


16       THE  MISSIONAEY  MANIFESTO 

spiritual  harmony  consists  in  the  presentation  of 
the  Person  of  the  Christ  in  a  fourfold  aspect. 

In  the  Gospel  according  to  Matthew  the  King- 
ship of  Jesus  is  revealed.  It  is  impossible  to 
escape  from  that  impression.  It  is  the  Gospel  of 
His  authority :  authority  by  all  rights — the 
rights  of  inherent  royalty  as  revealed  in  His 
character  j  the  right  of  perfect  legislation,  aa 
indicated  in  His  manifesto ;  the  right  of  vic- 
torious administration,  which  includes  conflict, 
and  issues  in  victory  as  accomplished  through 
His  Cross  and  Eesurrection.  Matthew  closes  his 
Gospel  with  a  picture  of  this  King,  standing  in 
the  power  of  resurrection,  and  saying  with  quiet 
dignity,  ^^All  authority  hath  been  given  unto 
Me.^'  Matthew^  s  Gospel  is  supremely  that  of 
the  royalty  of  Jesus. 

The  Gospel  according  to  Mark  is  the  Gospel 
of  the  service  of  Jesus.  He  is  seen  therein  per- 
petually stripped  of  royal  apparel,  and  girded 
^^with  the  slave's  apron''  j  forevermore  at  work 
in  remarkable  and  victorious  power.  As  we 
watch  Him  at  His  work,  we  see  the  aims  of  His 
activity — the  destruction  of  the  destroyer,  the 
casting  out  of  demons,  the  cancelling  of  disease. 
But  His  work  is  constructive  also :  He  makes 


THE  FOURFOLD  COMMISSION         17 

again  those  who  had  been  destroyed  ;  He  flings 
oat  death  and  gives  back  life  ;  He  cures  disease, 
and  thus  restores  men  to  ability.  Through  all 
these  processes  He  is  seen  restoring  groaning 
creation ;  destroying  things  that  destroy,  in  order 
that  those  destroyed  might  be  restored  ;  in  order 
that  man,  and  all  beneath  Him,  might  be  healed 
and  helped.  It  is  the  Gospel  of  the  Servant  of 
God,  mighty  in  power,  working  without  cessa- 
tion even  to  the  point  of  weariness,  until  He 
crowns  service  in  actual  and  absolute  sacrifice. 
Mark  presents  the  Servant,  and  closes  his  Gospel 
with  the  statement  that  the  Lord  works  with 
those  who  go  into  Creation  with  His  evangel  of 
renewal. 

The  perfect  humanity  of  Jesus  is  portrayed  in 
Luke's  Gospel.  As  Luke,  the  master-artist,  the 
cultured  Greek,  proceeds  with  his  work,  we  see 
in  Jesus  the  realization  of  the  Divine  purpose ; 
a  perfect  personality.  He  records  the  develop- 
ment of  the  early  years — the  birth  of  the  Boy ; 
the  mental  awakening,  and  the  confirmation  at 
twelve  years  of  age ;  the  spiritual  crowning  of 
the  Man  at  thirty  years  of  age.  We  then  see 
this  perfect  Man,  passing  through  the  three  years 
of  public  ministry,  victorious  through  testing; 


18       THE  MISSIONAEY  MAMFESTO 

submitting  to  temptation,  but  mastering  it ;  walk- 
ing the  common  way  of  ordinary  human  life,  yet 
never  failing,  never  deviating  j  moving  straight 
forward  with  calm  strength  and  dignity  through 
all  opposing  forces  to  the  realization  of  His  own 
human  life.  We  see  finally,  not  merely  the  vic- 
tory of  personality  but  the  accomplishment  of 
vocation.  This  perfect  Person,  victorious  in  His 
own  probation,  has  a  mission.  ^'The  Son  of 
Man  came  to  seek  and  to  save  that  which  was 
lost.^^  And  ere  the  Gospel  close,  we  see  Him 
accomplishing  His  Passion,  rising  from  the  dead, 
promising  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  as- 
cending to  the  right  hand  of  the  Father.  Luke 
records  the  command  of  Jesus  that  His  dis- 
ciples should  be  witnesses  to  His  victory  in  the 
power  of  the  Spirit. 

Turning  to  the  last  Gospel,  we  are  conscious  of 
the  clouds  and  darkness  of  a  great  mystery ;  yet 
out  of  it  there  flashes  such  light  as  man  had  never 
seen  before.  The  Gospel  of  John  is  not  a  life  of 
Jesus.  It  is  an  orderly  and  sequential  setting 
forth  of  certain  words  and  works  that  reveal  the 
deepest  mystery  of  His  Being.  We  see  in  Him 
the  manifestation  of  Deity.  In  His  Being,  we 
come  to  a  knowledge  of  the  Being  of  God.     In 


THE  FOUEFOLD  COMMISSION         19 

His  sayings,  we  learn  the  truth  of  God.  In  His 
doings,  we  discover  the  activities  of  God.  John 
records  the  sublime  words  in  which  Jesus  sent 
His  disciples  forth  for  the  continuation  of  that 
ministry  for  which  He  was  the  Sent  of  God. 

So  these  men  wrote.  Matthew,  the  tax-gath- 
erer, living  in  the  midst  of  things  imperial,  saw 
the  King  and  described  Him.  Mark,  the  friend 
of  Peter,  a  fisherman  accustomed  to  the  long  vigil 
of  the  night  and  the  ceaseless  toil  of  the  day, 
wrote  of  the  Man  at  work.  Luke,  the  Greek 
physician,  individual  perfection  being  the  master 
idea  of  his  mental  outlook,  saw  the  fulfillment  of 
that  ideal  in  Jesus.  John,  the  mystic  dreamer 
of  the  Galilean  sea,  looking  ever  on,  and  looking 
through  to  the  ultimate,  saw  the  ^^  Word  made 
flesh." 

In  the  light  of  that  fourfold  revelation  we 
discover  the  harmony  of  the  missionary  commis- 
sion. 

Matthew,  who  portrayed  the  royalty  of  Jesus, 
was  supremely  impressed  with  Christ's  words  on 
the  slopes  of  Olivet.  ^^  All  authority  hath  been 
given  unto  Me  in  heaven  and  on  earth.  Go  ye 
therefore,  and  make  disciples  of  all  the  nations, 
baptizing  them  into  the  name  of  the  Father  and 


20       THE  MISSIONAEY  MANIFESTO 

of  the  Son  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost ;  teaching  them 
to  observe  all  things  whatsoever  I  commanded 
you.^^ 

^^Go  ye,  .  .  .  disciple  the  nations,"  is  a 
much  broader  commission  than  that  indicated  by 
the  translation,  *'Go,  make  disciples  of  the  na- 
tions. ^ '  The  individual  application  is  recognized 
in  the  following  words,  ''baptizing  them,"  that 
is,  those  who  obey  the  proclamation  of  royalty  by 
submission;  *' teaching  them,"  that  is,  the 
bringing  of  such  under  His  ethical  system.  ' '  Go 
.  .  .  disciple  .  .  .  teach."  This  is  the 
commission  of  the  King,  the  Lawgiver.  It  rings 
with  the  note  of  authority. 

The  commission  according  to  Mark  is  all  too 
superficially  read  and  considered  by  Christian 
people.  ''Go  ye  into  all  the  kosmos"  does  not 
merely  mean.  Travel  over  the  surface  of  the  earth 
and  speak  to  men  ;  the  term  "kosmos"  here  in- 
cludes man  and  everything  beneath  him.  "The 
preaching  of  the  Gospel  to  individual  men  is  the 
beginning  of  the  work,  but  the  Gospel  is  to  be  pro- 
claimed to  the  whole  creation.  He  can  only  reach 
the  kosmos  and  the  whole  creation  with  the 
evangel  through  men.  In  the  proportion  in  which 
men  hear  the  evangel,  and,  yielding  to  it,  are  re- 


THE  FOUEFOLD  COMMISSION        21 

made  by  the  healing  ministry  of  the  Servant  of 
God,  they  become  instruments  through  which  He 
is  able  to  reconstruct  the  order  of  the  whole  crea- 
tion. 

Take  the  simplest  illustration.  In  the  Welsh 
revival,  when  a  profane,  degraded,  brutalized 
collier,  brought  to  God,  went  next  morning  to 
the  mines  to  begin  his  day's  work,  he  found  him- 
self unable  to  induce  his  horse  to  work,  because 
he  no  longer  swore  or  ill-treated  the  animal, 
which  only  understood  profane  language  and  only 
answered  brutal  blows. 

Through  the  renewed  man  the  whole  creation 
is  affected  and  redeemed  as  it  passes  under  the 
dominion  of  love.  We  are  to  go  into  the  whole 
creation,  the  whole  kosmos,  and  to  preach  the 
evangel,  not  merely  to  men  and  women,  though 
that  is  first  and  fundamental,  but  through  them 
to  the  whole  creation. 

This  Servant  of  God  comes  into  human  life,  and 
wherever  it  is  limited  and  bruised  He  destroys 
the  destroyer.  The  work  of  His  people  is  that  of 
carrying  on  His  work.  They  must  speak  with 
the  commanding  note  of  authority ;  but  there 
must  also  be  that  sacrificial  service  which  enters 
into  the  life  of  the  world,  and  comes  into  contact 


22       THE  MISSIONAEY  MAOTFESTO 

with  the  suffering,  in  order  that  there  may  be  in- 
fused thereinto  the  healing  virtues  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  Himself. 

Luke,  the  writer  of  the  Gospel  of  the  perfect 
Manhood  of  Christ,  records  His  declaration. 
^^  Ye  are  ^witnesses  of  these  things  .  .  .  but 
tarry  ye  .  .  .  until  ye  be  clothed  with  power 
from  on  high."  Christ  was  victorious  in  life  and 
death,  and  we  are  to  vindicate  His  victory  by  re- 
peating it  in  our  lives,  and  manifesting  to  men 
the  fact  that  the  power  of  His  life  and  the  value 
of  His  death  are  at  their  disposal.  We  are  to  be 
witnesses. 

John  heard  the  mystic  words  that  the  others 
perchance  were  afraid  to  chronicle,  because  they 
so  little  understood  their  meaning.  *^As  the 
Father  hath  sent  Me,  even  so  send  I  you.  .  .  . 
Beceive  ye  the  Holy  Ghost :  whosesoever  sins  ye 
forgive,  they  are  forgiven  unto  them ;  whose- 
soever sins  ye  retain,  they  are  retained. '^  John, 
who  had  seen  the  gleaming  glory  of  Divine  light 
shining  through  the  love-lit  eyes  of  his  Master ; 
John,  who  had  heard  in  the  sweet  tones  of  his 
Master's  voice  the  very  music  of  the  infinite  and 
undying  Love,  now  heard  Him  say,  *^As  the 
Father  hath  sent  Me,  even  so  send  I  you.'^    As 


THE  FOUEFOLD  COMMISSION         23 

He  came  into  the  world  for  the  manifestation  of 
God,  He  sends  His  own  into  the  world  for  that 
manifestation.  As  that  manifestation  of  God  in- 
cluded the  work  whereby  sin  may  be  forgiven, 
we  are  to  go  in  the  power  of  all  He  has  accom- 
plished and  are  to  exercise  this  great  and  holy 
function  of  remitting  and  retaining  sins.  This 
word  was  spoken,  not  to  the  apostles  as  such,  but 
to  Christian  men  and  women.  They  are  all  called 
to  reveal  the  Father  to  men,  and  to  exercise  the 
right  of  the  remission  or  retention  of  sins. 

It  is  as  we  discover  the  distinctions  between 
these  records  that  we  also  discover  the  harmony 
of  the  commission.  Each  is  related  to  the  Per- 
son of  Christ,  and  each  emphasizes  one  supreme 
value  thereof.  The  King  sends  us  to  proclaim 
His  royalty.  The  Servant  calls  us  to  cooperation 
in  His  sacrificial  service.  The  Perfect  Man  calls 
us  to  demonstrate  the  possibility  of  perfection 
through  His  victory  won  in  our  lives.  God  mani- 
fest, sends  us  forth  to  exhibit  ^Hhe  excellencies 
of  Him"  Who  has  called  us  '^out  of  darkness 
into  His  marvellous  light. '^ 

We  may  now  approach  the  subject  from  an- 
other standpoint,  that  of  the  harmony  of  these 
commissions  as  related  to  the  needs  of  the  world. 


24       THE  MISSIONARY  MANIFESTO 

The  need  of  humanity  to-day  is  fourfold.  Its 
first  necessity  is  that  of  authority.  That  is  true 
in  many  directions.  I  now  make  one  applica- 
tion only.  Humanity  preeminently  needs  to  hear 
the  voice  of  authority  on  the  matter  of  moral 
standards.  To  turn  away  from  the  religion  of 
the  Lord  Christ,  and  to  study  the  philosophies 
of  men  is  to  discover  a  great  disagreement  on  the 
question  of  sin.  There  is  no  final  authority  on 
this  subject.  Therefore  the  supreme  need  of  the 
world  is  the  enunciation  of  an  ethic  which  is 
binding  and  authoritative,  and  which  therefore 
gives  a  clear  revelation  of  what  sin  is. 

The  first  note  of  the  Christian  commission  is 
the  proclamation  to  the  world  of  the  authority 
of  Jesus.  The  Lordship  of  Christ  should  be 
the  first  note  of  preaching,  whether  at  home  or 
abroad.  We  wrongly  imagine  that  our  first  duty 
is  to  declare  His  love,  and  the  fact  that  He  is 
able  to  save.  It  may  be  an  old-fashioned  doc- 
trine, but  it  is  one  to  which  we  need  to  return, 
that  man  never  enters  into  the  experience  of 
conversion  until  he  has  come  to  conviction  of 
need.  That  conviction  of  need,  which  is  convic- 
tion of  sin,  can  only  be  produced  by  an  authori- 
tative moral  standard.     That  standard  is  pro- 


THE  FOURFOLD  COMMISSION        25 

vided  iu  the  ethic  of  Jesus,  proclaimed  in  His 
teaching,  and  exemplified  in  His  life. 

If  the  first  note  of  the  world's  need  is  that 
of  authority,  the  next  is  that  of  the  universal 
consciousness  of  sorrow  and  pain.  These  two 
matters  are  not  related  in  the  thinking  of  man 
to-day  as  they  should  be.  Man  wants  to  know 
what  is  right  and  what  is  wrong,  and  cannot 
find  his  final  standard.  He  is  also  conscious  of 
sorrow,  of  pain  j  and  that  pain  is  felt  through  all 
the  life  that  lies  beneath  him  in  creation.  He 
fails  too  often  to  recognize  that  the  pain  results 
from  the  violation  of  law,  through  lack  of  sub- 
mission to  a  final  authority.  When  the  nature- 
poet  found  a  dead  robin  on  his  garden  path,  he 
said — 

**Our  human  touch  had  on  him  passed, 
And  with  our  touch,  our  agony ' '  ; 

and  the  whole  truth  is  expressed  in  the  pulsating, 
throbbing  words  of  the  great  apostle,  ^^  the  whole 
creation  groaneth  and  travaileth  in  pain  together 
until  now.'*  Humanity  needs  healing  in  order 
to  the  healing  of  creation. 

The  second  note  of  the  great  evangel  is  that  of 
the  carrying  to  the  whole  creation  the  message 


26       THE  MISSIONAEY  MANIFESTO 

of  healing  and  renewal.  The  world's  agony  is 
the  world's  need.  That  need  is  to  be  met  by  the 
disciples  of  Christ,  as  they  enter  the  creation 
which  groaneth  and  travaileth  in  pain,  in  sacri- 
ficial service,  through  which  the  destructive 
forces  are  to  be  destroyed  and  new  life  com- 
municated. 

The  third  note  in  the  world's  need  is  its  con- 
sciousness of  inability  to  realize  the  highest,  to 
do  the  noblest,  to  be  the  best.  In  the  presence 
of  that  inability  men  think'  differently,  and  act 
in  various  ways.  Some  deny  the  ideal,  because 
they  are  unable  to  realize  it.  This  need,  stripped 
of  all  false  arguments  and  philosophies,  may  be 
expressed  in  the  language  of  Paul,  ''To  me  who 
would  do  good,  evil  is  present." 

The  third  note  in  the  commission  is,  ^'  Ye  shall 
be  My  witnesses.''  The  disciples  of  Jesus  are 
to  go  through  the  world  demonstrating  Christ's 
ability  in  their  victorious  lives.  They  are  to  be 
His  witnesses,  the  men  and  women  who  are  able. 
Paul  also  said,  "I  can  do  all  things  in  Him 
that  strengtheneth  me. ' '  Those  submitted  to  His 
royalty,  who  know  the  healing  power  He  be- 
stows, in  whom  the  forces  that  destroy  are  des- 
troyed, are  to  be  witnesses  to  Him,  in  the  home, 


THE  FOUEFOLD  COMMISSIOK         27 

in  the  city,  in  shop  and  office  and  factory,  and 
to  the  uttermost  part  of  the  earth.  Wherever 
they  go  they  are  to  bo  credentials,  evidences, 
demonstrations,  proofs,  samples  of  Christ,  an- 
swering the  world's  wail  of  inability  with  their 
perpetual  song  of  ability. 

The  final  note  of  the  world^s  need  is  expressed 
in  the  universal  unrest,  that  surging  undercur- 
rent of  unexplained  dissatisfaction  which  char- 
acterizes humanity  everywhere.  Probe  it,  solve 
it,  and  it  will  be  discovered  that  it  is  all  the  out- 
come of  the  fact  that  humanity  is  out  of  harmony 
with  God.  One  cannot  turn  in  any  direction 
without  being  made  conscious  of  unrest  and  fear 
and  suspicion  j  instability  in  government,  wicked- 
ness in  diplomacy,  the  breaking  of  treaties ;  all 
the  things  of  unrest  are  parts  of  the  same  lack  of 
God.  The  sins  of  men  result  from  the  sin  of  man 
wherein  he  turned  from  God.  For  the  forgive- 
ness of  sins  men  need  reconciliation  to  God. 

The  last  note  of  the  commission  is,  ''As  the 
Father  hath  sent  Me,  even  so  send  I  you ''  ;  with 
its  necessary  sequence,  "whosesoever  sins  ye  for- 
give, they  are  forgiven  unto  them  ;  whosesoever 
sins  ye  retain,  they  are  retained."  In  the 
mystic  power  of  her  fellowship  with  Christ,  the 


28       THE  MISSIONAEY  MAI^IFESTO 

Church  is  sent  to  reveal  the  Father,  to  work  to- 
gether with  the  Father  in  order  that  the  world 
may  find  its  rest  where  it  alone  can  be  found,  in 
restored  fellowship  with  Him  by  the  putting 
away  of  sins. 

Finally,  let  us  note  the  harmony  of  results  fol- 
lowing obedience  to  the  whole  commission. 

The  immediate  result  of  the  proclamation  of 
the  royalty  of  Jesus  is  conviction  of  sin. 

The  immediate  result  of  the  proclamation  of 
His  evangel  to  the  creation,  in  the  power  of  sacri- 
ficial service,  is  that  of  a  conviction  of  the  possi- 
bility  of  righteousness.  That  possibility  is 
demonstrated  by  the  healing  of  humanity's 
wounds,  the  ending  of  sorrow,  the  putting  away 
of  pain  and  the  communication  of  power. 

The  immediate  result  of  witnessing  to  the 
power  of  Christ  among  the  nations  is  that  of  the 
conviction  of  judgment,  because  the  prince  of 
this  world  hath  been  judged.  A  Christian  man, 
living  the  strong,  pure  Christian  life,  is  an  evi- 
dence of  the  fact  that  the  forces  of  evil  are 
mastered,  and  that  all  who  obey  the  Evangel  may 
be  victorious  over  them. 

The  immediate  result  of  conveying  to  the  world 
the  great  revelation  of  the  Father  and  the  mes- 


THE  FOURFOLD  COMMISSION         29 

sage  of  the  forgiveness  of  sins,  is  that  of  the 
creation  of  a  belief  which  becomes  the  basis  of 
that  repentance  which  is  the  rock  foundation  on 
which  character  is  built  and  human  life  developed. 

This,  then,  is  the  full  manifesto  of  the  King 
concerning  the  responsibility  of  His  Church. 

She  is  sent  to  the  waiting  world  to  proclaim 
His  royalty. 

She  is  called  to  serve  with  Him  in  suffering,  in 
order  that  she  may  communicate  healing  to  the 
whole  creation. 

She  is  to  prove  her  Master's  power  to  realize  in 
men  the  highest  and  the  noblest,  by  the  trans- 
figured lives  of  her  members. 

She  is  to  reveal  the  Father,  in  the  mystery  of 
that  Passion,  whereby  sin  is  remitted  when  men 
yield  to  His  claim,  or  retained  when  they  persist 
in  rebellion  against  Him. 

These  are  the  values  for  which  the  world  is 
waiting.  The  authority  of  the  ELing  must  be  the 
first  note  in  all  the  Church's  preaching.  She 
must  never  lower  the  standards  of  His  ethical  re- 
quirement, nor  remain  passive  when  others  do  so. 
Moreover,  she  must  ever  press  on  through  all 
cities  and  countries  and  continents  proclaiming 
His  will.     Bv  its  own  inherent  truth  His  teach- 


30       THE  MISSIONAEY  MANIFESTO 

ing  will  appeal  to  the  hearts  and  consciences  of 
men  when  it  is  preached.  In  His  words  the  world 
will  find  the  final  laws  of  conduct,  and  in  Himself 
the  final  standard  of  character. 

But  the  Church  must  also  strip  herself  of  her 
purple,  and  array  herself  in  the  garments  of 
service,  girding  herself  with  humility  as  with  a 
slave's  apron.  Passing  into  the  midst  of  crea- 
tion's sigh  and  sob  and  sorrow,  its  wounds  and 
weariness,  she  must  touch  it  with  new  life,  heal- 
ing by  contact.  She  is  to  bring  to  that  world- 
agony,  which  results  from  the  fact  that  the  world 
has  lost  its  centre  of  authority,  the  answering 
agony  of  sacrificial  service  by  which,  and  by 
which  alone,  it  can  be  healed. 

The  Church  is  to  scatter  through  all  the 
nations  the  living  witnesses.  The  groaning 
creation  is  *' Waiting  for  the  revealing  of  the 
sons  of  God."  That  word,  though  prophetic,  has 
an  immediate  and  present  application.  Wher- 
ever those  come,  in  whom  Christ  has  won  His 
victory,  by  their  lives  they  preach  in  power  the 
gospel  of  His  ability. 

Finally,  the  Church  is  to  go  with  the  great 
message  of  the  forgiveness  of  sins.  The  man  who 
is  brought  face  to  face  with  the  royalty  of  Jesus 


THE  FOUEFOLD  COMMISSION         31 

will  put  his  hand  upon  his  lip  and  cry,  *  *  XJn-  ^^^ 

clean!  Unclean!"  He  will  thus  become  con- 
scious of  all  the  sorrow  and  pain  resulting  from 
his  sin.  He  will  then  know  as  never  before  the 
agony  of  inability  to  do  that  which  he  would. 
To  such  the  Church  must  declare  the  possibility 
of  the  forgiveness  of  sins  by  the  unveiling  of  the 
Father. 

This  is  the  Church's  deposit.  If  she  rejoice  in 
all  that  she  possesses  of  authority,  of  service,  of 
witness,  and  of  revelation ;  and  fail  to  communi- 
cate to  others,  she  is  untrue  to  the  intention  of 
her  Lord,  and  is  in  grave  peril  herself  of  losing  all. 


THE  COMMISSION  ACCORDING 
TO  MATTHEW 


"  Go  ye  therefore,  and  disciple  the  nations,  bapti^ 
zing  them  into  the  name  of  the  Father  and  of  the  Son 
and  of  the  Holy  Ghost :  teaching  them  to  observe  all 
things  whatsoever  I  commanded  you  :  and  lo,  I  am 
with  you  all  the  days,  even  unto  the  consummation  of 
the  age." — Matthew  28  :   19,  20. 


n 

THE  AUTHORITY  OF  THE  KING 

THERE  is  a  common  method  in  the  pres- 
entation of  the  four  parts  of  the  Mis- 
sionary Manifesto  by  the  four  evan- 
gelists. An  aspect  of  truth  which  the  commission 
emphasizes  is  stated ;  the  responsibility  of  the 
Church  concerning  that  aspect  is  declared ;  and 
the  power  in  which  the  Church  may  discharge 
her  responsibility  is  revealed. 

In  our  consideration  of  the  Manifesto  in  its 
four  aspects,  we  shall  observe  this  method  in 
each  case  by  attempting  to  discover  the  deposit, 
the  debt,  and  the  dynamic. 

The  words  ^^  deposit "  and  ''  debt''  are  closely 
allied  in  any  consideration  of  the^Church's  mis- 
sionary responsibility.  Paul,  in  writing  to  the 
Romans,  said  :  '^  I  am  debtor  both  to  Greeks  and 
to  barbarians,  both  to  the  wise  and  to  the  foolish." 
We  may  understand  what  he  meant  by  the  dec- 
laration by  reference  to  his  second  letter  to 
Timothy,  in  which  he  said:  *'I  know  Him 
Whom  I  have  believed,  and  I  am  persuaded  that 
35 


36       THE  MISSIONAEY  MAOTFESTO 

He  is  able  to  guard  that  which  I  have  committed 
unto  Him  against  that  day.''  This  passage,  as  it 
thus  stands  in  the  Eevised  Version,  or  as  it  reads 
in  the  Authorized,  ^'  I  know  Him  Whom  I  have 
believed,  and  am  persuaded  that  He  is  able  to 
keep  that  which  I  have  committed  unto  Him 
against  that  day,''  is  more  than  translation  j  it  is 
interpretation.  The  phrase  ^^  that  which  I  have 
committed  unto  Him,"  common  to  both  versions, 
is  the  equivalent  to  something  much  briefer  in 
the  Greek  New  Testament,  which  literally  trans- 
lated reads  ^'my  deposit."  Such  translation 
would  leave  the  question  open  as  to  whether  the 
apostle  referred  to  something  he  had  deposited 
with  Christ,  or  to  something  which  Christ  had 
deposited  with  him.  I  submit  that  the  decision 
must  be  made  by  an  examination  of  the  context. 
In  this  last  letter  to  Timothy  Paul  was  urging 
him  not  to  be  ashamed  of  the  testimony  of  the 
Lord,  and  in  the  course  of  the  paragraph  referred 
to  the  Gospel  of  which  he  had  been  appointed  a 
preacher,  apostle,  and  teacher  ;  and  declared  that 
he  himself  was  not  ashamed  because  he  knew 
Him  Whom  he  had  believed,  and  was  persuaded 
that  He  was  able  to  guard  his  deposit.  The  de- 
posit was  evidently  the  Gospel. 


THE  AUTHORITY  OF  THE  KING     37 

In  the  Eoman  letter,  in  close  connection  with 
his  declaration  that  he  was  debtor,  he  made  the 
same  declaration,  '^  I  am  not  ashamed  of  the  Gos- 
pel.'^ His  deposit  thus  created  his  debt.  That 
deposit  was  the  Gospel  which  he  held  in  trust  for 
the  world.  That  the  responsibility  was  a  grave 
one  he  knew  full  well,  and  in  yet  another  letter, 
when  speaking  of  the  difficulties  of  the  work  of 
the  Christian  ministry,  he  exclaimed,  ^' Who  is 
sufficient  for  these  things  I  '^  and,  in  close  associa- 
tion with  the  inquiry,  affirmed,  '^  Our  sufficiency 
is  of  God." 

Thus,  in  the  Manifesto  of  Jesus,  we  shall  find 
the  Gospel  for  the  world,  which  is  the  Church's 
deposit ;  a  responsibility,  which  is  the  Church's 
debt ;  and  the  revelation  of  the  power  in  which 
the  debt  may  be  discharged,  which  is  the 
Church's  dynamic. 

In  Matthew  the  revelation  of  Jesus  is  that 
of  the  perfect  and  aU-sufficient  King.  Conse- 
quently, and  naturally,  when  he  wrote  the  story 
of  the  resurrection  and  the  events  following  it, 
he  only  referred  to  those  words  of  Jesus  which 
grew  distinctly  and  emphatically  out  of  His 
Kingship.  All  that  Matthew  had  to  tell  concern- 
ing the  resurrection  and  the  subsequent  occur- 


38       THE  MISSIOKAEY  MANIFESTO 

rences  is  ckroiiicled  in  the  last  chapter  of  his 
Gospel.  So  far  as  the  actual  resurrection  is  con- 
cerned, everything  is  told  in  the  first  ten  verses. 
Immediately  following  that  is  a  passage  which  we 
may  treat  as  a  parenthesis,  in  which  he  gave  an 
account  of  the  going  of  the  guard  into  the  city, 
and  of  the  way  in  which  the  priests  promised  to 
shield  them  in  case  of  Pilate's  anger.  In  the  last 
few  verses  we  have  the  account  of  the  meeting  in 
Galilee.  It  must  be  remembered  that  this  meet- 
ing was  not  on  the  day  of  resurrection,  but  long 
subsequent  thereto,  and  therefore  the  commission 
which  Matthew  gives  was  uttered  by  the  Lord 
subsequently  to  those  recorded  by  Mark,  Luke, 
and  John.  According  to  Matthew,  He  said  to 
the  women  on  the  resurrection  morning  :  '^  Fear 
not ;  go  tell  My  brethren  that  they  depart  into 
Galilee,  and  there  shall  they  see  Me."  He  gives 
no  account  of  further  happenings  on  that  first 
day,  and  we  read:  ''But  the  eleven  went  into 
Galilee,  unto  the  mountain  where  Jesus  had  ap- 
pointed them."  That  could  not  have  happened 
on  the  same  day.  There  is  evidently  a  gap  in 
the  story.  The  distance  between  Jerusalem  and 
Galilee  was  more  than  fifty  miles.  Mark,  Luke, 
and  John,  in  each  case  with  particular  emphasis 


THE  AUTHORITY  OF  THE  KING      39 

^d  careful  indication  of  time,  affirm  tiiac  on  the 
evening  of  the  day  of  resurrection  He  met  the 
disciples  in  the  upper  room  where  they  were  as- 
sembled. Moreover,  it  is  evident,  from  careful 
comparison  of  the  narratives,  that  on  the  after- 
noon of  the  day  of  resurrection  He  walked  to 
Emmaus  with  two  disciples,  and  appeared  subse- 
quently to  the  eleven  assembled  in  the  upper 
room.  Chi'onologically,  therefore,  it  is  evident 
that  the  charge  given  to  the  disciples  in  Galilee 
must  be  placed  later  than  the  instructions  given 
to  them  in  the  upper  room,  as  recorded  by  Mark, 
Luke,  and  John.  I  nevertheless  believe  that 
both  the  Gospel  and  the  note  of  the  commission 
according  to  Matthew  are  found  in  their  true 
place  in  the  New  Testament,  because  the  first 
note  of  the  Church's  message  to  the  world  must 
ever  be  that  of  the  Lordship  of  Christ.  Yet  let 
us  not  forget  that  this  is  only  one  note.  To 
make  this  the  one  inclusive  charge  of  Christ  to 
His  disciples  is  to  fail  to  apprehend  the  full  and 
spacious  meaning  of  missionary  endeavour. 

In  order  to  the  clearest  apprehension  of  the 
value  of  the  words  of  Jesus  uttered  in  Galilee,  let 
ns  particularly  notice  some  of  the  facts  which 
Matthew  records  concerning  the  meeting  of  the 


40       THE  MISSIONAEY  MAI^IFESTO 

King  with  His  disciples  on  that  occasion.  *'  The 
eleven  disciples  went  into  Galilee,  unto  the 
mountain  where  Jesus  had  appointed  them.  And 
when  they  saw  Him,  they  worshipped  Him  ;  but 
some  doubted.  And  Jesus  came  to  them  and 
spake  unto  them.''  It  is  interesting  to  notice 
the  effect  that  was  produced  upon  these  men  by 
the  appearance  of  Jesus.  There  are  suggestions 
concerning  that  appearance  which  it  may  not  be 
possible  finally  to  explain,  but  the  inference  of 
the  declaration,  ^^  Jesus  came  to  them,''  is  that 
when  they  first  saw  Him,  He  was  at  some  dis- 
tance from  them,  perhaps  standing  a  little  higher 
on  the  mountainside.  As  they  looked  at  Him 
they  worshipped;  but  some  doubted;  and  the 
suggestion  is  that  there  was  something  in  His 
appearance  which  compelled  them  to  this  atti- 
tude of  worship.  The  word  '^worship"  here 
used  means  absolute  prostration  in  the  presence 
of  supremacy  and  sovereignty.  In  different 
forms  it  occurs  about  twelve  times  in  the  course 
of  this  Gospel,  and  about  twelve  times  in  the 
course  of  the  Gospel  according  to  John.  It  is 
practically  absent  from  those  of  Mark  and  Luke. 
These  things  are  not  accidents  in  the  economy  of 
inspired  revelation.     In  the  Gospel  which  pre- 


THE  AUTHOEITY  OF  THE  KING     41 

sents  the  King,  and  in  that  which  demonstrates 
Deity,  that  attitude  is  referred  to  repeatedly.  In 
those  presenting  Jesus  as  Servant  and  as  Man 
the  word  is  almost  entirely  absent. 

While  this  word  occurs  over  and  over  again  in 
Matthew,  here  at  Galilee  it  gains  a  new  signif- 
icance, which  is  accentuated  by  the  declaration 
that  *'  some  doubted.'^ 

**  When  they  saw  Him  they  worshipped  Him.^' 
There  was  evidently  something  about  His  ap- 
pearance which  commanded  the  attitude  of  wor- 
ship, which  bent  these  men  before  Him  in 
submission  and  adoration.  What  the  peculiar 
nature  of  the  appearance  was,  of  course  it  is 
impossible  to  declare,  but  my  own  conviction  is 
that  its  effect  upon  them  was  due  to  the  fact  that 
He  was  ^^  declared  to  be  the  Son  of  God  with 
power,  according  to  the  Spirit  of  holiness,  by  the 
resurrection  of  the  dead.''  With  reverent  reti- 
cence Matthew  gives  us  no  description  of  the 
appearance.  He  afl&rms  that  "when  they  saw 
Him,  they  worshipped  Him."  The  declaration 
**but  some  doubted"  is  a  valuable  evidence  of 
the  truth  of  the  story.  Were  this  narrative  a 
human  fabrication  it  is  not  likely  that  these  words 
would  have  been  written.     The  word  ' '  doubted  " 


42       THE  MISSIONAEY  MANIFESTO 

is  an  uncommon  one,  only  occurring  twice  in  the 
New  Testament,  and  each  occurrence  is  in  this 
Gospel.  Peter  walked  on  the  water  to  go  to  his 
Lord,  and  when  he  looked  at  the  boisterous 
waves  he  was  afraid,  doubted,  wavered.  Other 
words  translated  ^' doubt"  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment suggest  unbelief.  This  one  indicates  wa- 
vering, wondering,  perplexity.  In  the  hearts  of 
some  of  them  there  still  lurked  fear  and  uncer- 
tainty. They  had  seen  Him  die.  They  had 
been  gathered  about  Him  in  the  upper  room  on 
more  than  one  occasion.  He  had  appeared  to 
one  and  another  of  them,  and  to  the  whole  com- 
pany assembled  together.  They  were  sure  that 
He  had  risen.  When  they  saw  Him  on  the 
slopes  of  Olivet  there  was  something  in  His  ap- 
pearance which  demanded  worship ;  and  yet 
they  could  hardly  believe  their  senses — their 
minds  wavered.  It  is  to  be  remembered  that  no 
word  of  rebuke  fell  from  the  lips  of  Christ.  He 
came  nearer  to  them,  and  perchance  by  that 
coming,  banished  forever  the  fears  that  had  lin- 
gered in  their  hearts,  making  impossible  in  all 
the  days  to  come  any  further  doubt.  The  scene 
then  is  before  our  minds.  The  risen  and  glorified 
Lord  stands  in  the  midst  of  the  group  of  wor- 


THE  AUTHORITY  OF  THE  KING      43 

shipping  men,  some  of  them  wavering  in  fear 
born  of  wonder.  To  them  He  uttered  the  words 
of  His  Kingly  commission,  in  which  we  may 
discover  the  deposit  of  truth  for  which  the 
Church  is  responsible,  the  debt  created  by  the 
possession  of  that  deposit,  and  the  dynamic  in 
the  power  of  which  the  Church  may  discharge 
the  debt  created  by  the  possession  of  the  deposit. 

The  deposit  is  named  in  the  claim  of  Christ : 
^'All  authority  hath  been  given  unto  Me  in 
heaven  and  on  earth."  The  debt  is  declared  in 
the  command  of  Christ:  ''Go  ye  therefore,  and 
disciple  the  nations,  baptizing  them  into  the 
name  of  the  Father  and  of  the  Son  and  of  the 
Holy  Ghost."  The  dynamic  is  revealed  in  the 
promise  of  Christ :  ''  Lo,  I  am  with  you  all  the 
days,  even  unto  the  consummation  of  the  age." 

First,  then,  the  deposit  of  the  Church.  The 
one  truth  emphasized  in  this  phase  of  the  Mis- 
sionary Manifesto  is  that  of  the  absolute  author- 
ity of  Christ :  His  supremacy  and  sovereignty ; 
the  fact  that  He  shares  the  throne  of  empire  ly^ 
with  none.  The  word  here  translated  ''  author- 
ity" does  not  suggest  power  in  the  sense  of 
energy  or  might.  The  first  intention  of  the 
word  is  that  of  the  power  of  choice — that  is,  the 


44       THE  MISSIONAEY  MANIFESTO 

right  to  choose.  Its  second  intention  is  that  of 
the  power  of  enforcement — that  is,  the  right  to 
insist  upon  obedience.  The  third  intention  is 
that  of  the  power  of  government — that  is,  the 
right  to  utter  the  final  verdict  and  to  pass  sen- 
tence. 

Human  choice  must  always  be  made  in  submis- 
sion to  a  higher  will,  therefore  it  can  never  be 
said  that  man  can  have  an  absolute  right  and 
power  of  choice.  Authority  in  the  last  analysis 
is  the  right  to  determine,  enforce,  and  pass  sen- 
tence. 

In  these  words  Jesus,  standing  on  the  resurrec- 
tion side  of  His  grave,  in  the  simplest  language 
made  the  sublimest  claim,  when  He  thus  declared 
Himself  to  be  King  by  Divine  right,  and  there- 
fore absolute  in  His  Kingship.  The  word  admits 
of  no  qualification.  The  claim  admits  of  no  limi- 
tation. In  that  moment  He  claimed  authority  in 
the  material,  mental,  and  moral  realms. 

The  application  of  His  claim  to  this  world  does 
by  no  means  exhaust  it.  He  swept  the  compass 
with  a  reach  far  wider,  more  spacious,  and  stu- 
pendous. Not  only  on  earth,  but  in  heaven  is 
authority  given  to  Him.  The  one  phrase,  ''in 
heaven  and  on  earth,"  includes  the  whole  crea- 


THE  AUTHORITY  OF  THE  KING     46 

tion  of  God.  It  is  manifest  that  He  is  excluded 
"Wlio  created,  and  Who  puts  all  things  under  the 
feet  of  His  King.  It  is  equally  manifest  that  all 
is  included  which  comes  within  the  scope  of  that 
comprehensive  word,  the  creation  of  God.  We 
may  interpret  this  final  claim  of  Jesus  by  the 
prayer  He  taught  His  disciples:  ''Our  Father 
Who  art  in  the  heavens.  Hallowed  be  Thy 
name.  Thy  Kingdom  come.  Thy  will  be  done, 
as  in  heaven,  so  on  earth. '^  His  ministry  of 
teaching  having  been  completed,  having  accom- 
plished His  exodus  and  resurrection,  at  last  He 
claimed  authority  in  heaven  and  on  earth,  thus 
assuming  the  throne  of  empire  over  the  whole 
creation  of  God,  included  in  the  terms  of  the 
prayer,  and  now  defined  in  the  words,  *'  in  heaven 
and  on  earth.'' 

Of  course,  this  is  but  to  state  the  fact  in  the 
broadest  and  most  comprehensive  way.  To  those 
who  will  give  themselves  to  careful  consideration 
of  it,  there  will  come  an  ever-increasing  conscious- 
ness of  the  grandeur  and  sublimity  of  the  claim. 
This  authority,  moreover,  is  the  more  remarkable 
in  that  Jesus  described  it  as  delegated  authority. 
Ultimately,  it  is  the  authority  of  essential  Deity. 

Perhaps  we  come  nearest  to  an  understanding 


46       THE  MISSIONAEY  MAOTFESTO 

of  the  special  value  of  these  words  of  Jesus  when 
we  consider  what  they  meant  to  the  men  who  first 
heard  them.  To  them  the  claim  must  have  been 
that  of  the  vindication  of  the  ideals  for  which  He 
had  stood  through  the  years  of  His  public  minis- 
try J  the  ratification  of  the  purposes  which  He 
had  declared  to  them  in  the  process  of  His  patient 
training  of  them  for  the  work  which  they  were 
called  to  do  j  and  consequently  it  suggested  the 
initiation  of  the  new  era  of  their  newresponsibility. 
One  recognizes  the  difficulty  of  speaking  of  the 
ideals  of  Jesus  with  anything  like  brevity,  and 
yet  it  is  necessary  to  make  the  attempt.  For  the 
purpose  of  a  study  such  as  this,  the  master  prin- 
ciples upon  which  He  had  insisted  both  in  His 
speech  and  manner  of  life  through  the  years  of 
His  public  ministry ;  in  the  more  pronounced 
discourses  which  fell  from  His  lips,  in  all  His  ar- 
guments with  His  critics,  and  in  the  private  teach- 
ing of  His  disciples  -,  may  be  stated  as  the  su- 
premacy of  the  spiritual,  and  the  necessity  for 
heart  purity.  Again,  out  of  the  mass  of  His 
teaching  it  is  difficult  to  cite  a  lonely  illustration 
of  the  fact  that  He  stood  for  the  supremacy  of  the 
spiritual.  Perhaps  one  of  the  simplest  is  that 
conveyed  in  His  words  :  ^*  Be  not  afraid  of  them 


THE  AUTHORITY  OF  THE  KING     47 

which  kill  the  body,  but  are  not  able  to  kill  the 
soul."  Here  is  a  distinct  recognition  of  the  fact 
that  the  essential  life  of  a  man  is  independent  of 
the  body.  The  man  of  the  world  would  af&rm 
that  to  kill  the  body  is  to  kill  the  life ;  conse- 
quently the  only  thing  he  fears  is  the  death  of  the 
body,  and  forevermore  he  strives  to  deliver  hia 
body  from  death,  because  he  sees  nothing  beyond 
its  destruction.  Jesus,  with  a  fine  disdain  for 
that  which  is  merely  physical,  in  these  words  in- 
dicated His  conception  that  the  supreme  thing  in 
human  life  is  not  the  physical  but  the  spiritual. 
At  last,  upon  the  slopes  of  Olivet,  He  stood  in 
the  glory  of  a  life  that  vindicates  the  word  spoken 
before  death.  He  went  to  the  Cross  not  fearing 
those  who  kill  the  body  but  could  not  destroy  the 
life.  He  knew,  that  although  they  nailed  Him 
to  the  tree,  they  could  not  hinder  Him,  or  hurt 
Him  in  the  deepest  facts  of  His  being.  Now  in 
resurrection  life  He  said:  *^A11  authority  hath 
been  given  unto  Me,  in  heaven  and  on  earth," 
and  a  fair  application  of  His  words  may  be,  I 
have  vindicated  the  ideal  for  which  I  stood,  that 
namely,  of  the  supremacy  of  the  spiritual. 

He  stood,  moreover,  for  the  necessity  of  purity 
in  the  inward  part,   forevermore  condemning, 


48       THE  MISSIONARY  MANIFESTO 

not  so  much  the  outward  action  as  the  inward 
desire.  According  to  the  testimony  of  her  ac- 
cusers, a  woman  was  taken  in  the  act,  and  ar- 
raigned before  Him  j  but  He  was  far  more 
shocked  by  the  unmanifested  lust  of  the  men 
who  charged  her,  than  by  the  story  of  her  sin. 
In  all  His  teaching  He  had  made  it  clear  that 
what  a  man  is  in  his  deepest  life  is  what  he  is  in 
very  truth  in  the  sight  of  heaven,  in  the 
balances  of  eternity,  in  the  conception  of  God. 
This  Man,  Himself  a  Man  of  inward  purity  and 
heart  spotlessness,  went  to  death,  and,  in  virtue 
of  that  purity,  did  what  no  other  had  done— He 
mastered  death.  Because  He  was  sinless  He 
gained  the  victory  over  death.  The  disciples 
heard  Him  say  :  ^^  All  authority  hath  been  given 
unto  Me,  in  heaven  and  on  earth,''  and  knew  in 
their  deepest  consciousness  that  His  resurrection 
was  the  vindication  of  His  own  claim  to  sinless- 
ness ;  and  the  vindication,  therefore,  of  His  ideal 
of  the  necessity  for  heart  purity. 

These  are  the  ideals  He  has  committed  to  His 
Church,  to  which  she  must  yield  a  ready  sub- 
mission within  her  own  borders,  and  which  she  is 
called  upon  to  proclaim  with  no  uncertain  sound 
to  all  the  nations. 


THE  AUTHORITY  OF  THE  KING      49 

His  claim  to  authority  meant  also  a  declaration 
of  the  ratification  of  His  purposes.  He  had  told 
His  disciples  that  He  would  build  His  Church  j 
that  He  would  lead  it  as  an  army  in  conflict 
against  evil  and  its  issues,  and  in  victory  over  all, 
including  the  very  gates  of  Hades  j  that  He 
would  erect  a  moral  standard,  and  make  them, 
His  disciples,  His  interpreters  thereof,  giving 
them  ''the  keys  of  the  Kingdom  of  heaven.'^ 

Immediately  following  this  declaration  of  pur- 
pose, He  had  spoken  to  them  of  the  necessity  for 
the  Cross,  and  they,  with  faith  faltering,  had  seen 
Him  die.  Notwithstanding  all  He  had  foretold 
them,  they  looked  upon  the  Cross  as  evidence  of 
His  failure  to  accomplish  His  purposes.  From 
their  standpoint  of  observation  it  was  impossible 
for  one  who  ^died  to  build  a  Church,  and  lead  an 
army,  and  insist  upon  a  moral  standard.  But 
now  they  saw  Him  in  all  the  glory  of  resurrec- 
tion life,  and  knew  that  therein  He  demonstrated 
His  power  to  build  a  Church,  having  passed 
through  death  and  become  the  first-born  from 
among  the  dead.  They  knew  that  He  had  the 
power  to  combat  sin  and  overcome  it,  for  He 
had  taken  hold  of  death,  which  is  the  ultimate  of 
sin,  and  in  His  mastery  of  death  had  revealed 


50       THE  MISSIOKAEY  MANIFESTO 

His  ability  to  deal  with  sin.  He  had  lived  in 
perfect  conformity  to  His  own  ethical  standard, 
and  when  His  life  resulted  in  His  rejection  by 
men  and  His  being  put  to  death,  it  had  seemed 
as  though  the  impossibility  of  obedience  was 
proven ;  but  now,  standing  in  the  power  of  risen 
life,  He  claimed  authority,  and  thereby  sug- 
gested  that  His  own  victories  vindicated  His 
right  to  be  the  ethical  Teacher  of  the  world. 

Not  only  did  that  claim,  emphasized  by  the  res- 
urrection, vindicate  His  ideals  and  ratify  His 
purposes,  it  declared  that  the  hour  had  come  for 
the  initiation  of  the  mission  of  seeking  and  sav- 
ing the  lost. 

That  absolute  Lordship  is  the  first  message 
which  the  Church  is  charged  to  deliver  to  the 
world,  and  the  supreme  proof  of  it  is  the  resur- 
rection. I  am  not  prepared  to  declare  that  we 
are  wronging  the  Lord  Christ  when  we  emphasize 
His  Lordship  upon  the  basis  of  the  perfection  of 
His  example.  I  do  however  say  that  the  preach- 
ing of  His  example  will  never  subdue  sinning 
men  to  His  Lordship.  I  do  not  affirm  that  it  is 
wholly  inaccurate  to  declare  that  in  the  high 
conceptions  of  life  revealed  in  His  ethical  teach- 
ing is  reason  for  crowning  Him.     I  do  however 


THE  AUTHORITY  OF  THE  KING     51 

affirm  that  we  may  preach  His  ethic  without 
being  able  to  win  victories  in  the  moral  realm. 
The  Church's  message  is  not  fundamentally  that 
He  is  Lord  by  reason  of  the  matchless  beauty  of 
His  own  life,  or  on  account  of  the  lonely  splen- 
dour of  His  moral  standard.  The  Church  is 
called  to  declare  that  He  is  Lord  by  the  resurrec- 
tion of  the  dead.  To  deny  the  historic  truth  of 
the  resurrection  is  to  blot  out  every  missionary 
commission  in  the  New  Testament.  If  in  answer 
it  be  affirmed  that  He  commissioned  His  dis- 
ciples to  certain  work  before  His  Cross  and  resur- 
rection, in  reply  we  have  only  to  examine  the 
earlier  commissions.  In  the  earlier  days  of  His 
ministry,  He  said  among  other  things  :  ' '  Go 
not  into  any  way  of  the  Gentiles,  and  enter 
not  into  any  city  of  the  Samaritans. ''  Beyond 
the  resurrection  His  charge  was  no  longer  local, 
but  universal,  the  whole  creation  being  included. 
The  first  business  of  the  Church  is  to  proclaim  to 
the  world  the  authority  of  the  King  Who  came  to 
empire  by  the  way  of  resurrection. 

If  that  be  the  deposit,  what  then,  is  the  debt  ? 
It  is  clearly  indicated  as  to  its  widest  scope  in  the 
words  '^disciple  the  nations. '^  The  Churches  re- 
sponsibility as  indicated  by  these  words  is  that 


52       THE  MISSIONARY  MANIFESTO 

of  tlie  proclamation  of  the  Lordship  of  Christ, 
the  insistence  ujpon  the  supremacy  of  His  ethic 
in  every  nation,  among  all  ]3eoples.  His  mes- 
sengers are  charged  to  proclaim  the  fact  of  His 
Lordship,  to  announce  to  men  everywhere  that 
He  is  King.  They  are  to  pass  through  all  na- 
tions proclaiming  Him  King  upon  the  basis  of 
His  resurrection,  and  all  that  it  involves.  This 
means,  therefore,  that  she  is  to  proclaim  and  in- 
sist upon  His  ethical  standards ;  that  His  ideal 
of  intellectual  greatness  is  the  knowledge  of  God  ; 
that  His  ideal  of  emotional  function  is  to  love 
God  and  our  neighbour ;  that  His  ideal  of  voli- 
tional fulfillment  is  to  seek  first  the  Kingdom  of 
God. 

The  Church  is  not  sent  to  London,  or  Calcutta, 
or  Pekin,  to  invite  men  to  consider  the  claims  of 
a  Teacher  Whom  men  may  compare  with  others. 
She  is  to  announce  Him  as  the  crowned  Lord, 
absolute  King,  the  only  One  Who,  having  en- 
tered into  conflict  with  the  forces  that  unmake 
humanity,  and  the  enemies  that  hold  humanity 
enthralled,  "has  crushed  and  defeated  them,  com- 
ing into  the  place  of  final  and  glorious  victory 
by  the  way  of  resurrection.  She  is  to  preach 
the  Lordship  of  Christ  to  the  nations,  and  thus 


THE  AUTHOEITY  OF  THE  KING      53 

to  bring  them  uudor  the  spell  of  the  announce- 
ment. Her  responsibility  is  that  of  seeing  to  it 
that  all  the  nations  hear  its  proclamation.  The 
Church  has  never  been  commissioned  to  convert 
the  world,  but  to  evangelize  it,  to  create  its 
opportunity  of  choice,  to  bring  men  everywhere 
face  to  face  with  the  King,  that  in  His  presence 
man  may  crown  or  crucify  Him  j  to  preach  the 
doctrine  of  His  supremacy,  which  doctrine  be- 
comes to  those  who  hear  it  a  savour  of  life  unto 
life,  or  of  death  unto  death,  according  to  whether 
they  obey  or  rebel.  That  is  the  first  great  and 
grave  responsibility  of  the  Church. 

As  she  fulfills  that  function,  proclaiming  the 
Lordship  of  Jesus,  bringing  men  under  the  in- 
fluence and  sway  of  the  love  of  Christ,  com- 
pelling them  to  consider  His  claim,  there  will  be 
those  who  will  submit  themselves  and  bend  the 
knee,  and  yield  the  heart  and  life  to  Him.  Such 
she  is  commanded  to  baptize  ^4nto  the  name  of 
the  Father  and  of  the  Son  and  of  the  Holy 
Ghost. '^  This  baptism  is  in  itself  a  suggestive 
symbolism.  The  first  thought  it  conveys  is  that 
of  death,  but  baptism  is  not  the  victory  of  death, 
but  a  passage  through  death  into  life.  Thus  the 
rite  of  baptism  suggests  death  and  resurrection. 


54       THE  MISSIONAEY  MANIFESTO 

Those  who  submit  to  the  King  are  brought  into 
His  Kingdom  through  death  and  resurrection, 
not  by  water  baptism,  but  by  the  baptism  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  of  which  water  baptism  is  a  symbol 
or  sign. 

Those  who  come  under  the  influence  of  the 
proclamation  of  the  Lordship  of  Jesus,  and  yield- 
ing to  it,  pass  through  His  death  and  resurrec- 
tion into  living  union  with  Him,  are  to  be 
taught  ' '  to  observe  all  things  whatsoever  I  com- 
manded you.''  They  are  to  realize  in  their  own 
fellowship  the  actuality  of  His  Kingship,  and 
are  to  manifest  through  their  corporate  life  the 
glory  and  grace  of  the  Kingdom  of  God.  This 
new  society  is  formed  wherever,  as  a  result  of 
the  proclamation  of  His  Lordship,  men  and 
women  yield  thereto  ;  a  society  of  those  who  not 
only  believe  in  His  Lordship,  but  bend  to  it,  and 
exhibit  to  the  world  the  result  of  His  Kingship 
in  their  individual  lives  and  social  fellowshipo 

If  we  measure  the  history  of  the  Christian 
Church  by  that  great  ideal  we  inevitably  see 
how  sorely  and  grievously  she  has  failed. 

Finally,  a  brief  word  concerning  the  dynamic. 
If  the  Church  is  to  fulfill  this  great  responsibility, 
she  must  enter  into  the  full  meaning  of  the  final 


THE  AUTHORITY  OF  THE  KING      55 

words  of  the  Lord  ;  *'  Lo,  I  am  with  you  all  the 
days,  even  unto  the  consummation  of  the  age." 
We  must  understand  the  meaning  of  the  phrase 
*'end  of  the  world."  Too  often  we  think  of  it 
as  some  catastrophe  or  destruction  of  the  earth. 
That  is  not  the  meaning  of  the  words  of  which 
the  Lord  made  use.  The  superior  translation  is 
undoubtedly  ^^consummation  of  the  age."  The 
earth  will  continue  long  after  the  completion  of 
this  age.  The  promise  is  that  of  the  abiding 
presence  of  the  King  through  the  present  age. 
It  is  impossible  to  preach  His  Lordship  prevail- 
ingly, save  in  living  fellowship  with  Himself. 
We  may  discuss  it  and  demonstrate  it  intellect- 
ually, but  the  demonstration  will  lack  compelling 
power,  save  as  the  truth  is  proclaimed  in  living, 
personal  comradeship  with  Him.  In  His  phrase 
*^all  the  days,"  is  inferred  mastery  of  circum- 
stances, the  inference  vindicated,  as  we  have  seen, 
by  His  resurrection.  The  One  Who  through  de- 
feat proceeded  to  absolute  victory  accompanies 
His  people,  as  in  obedience  to  His  command 
they  go  forth  to  proclaim  His  Kingship. 

In  the  words  already  dealt  with,  *Hhe  consum- 
mation of  the  age,"  His  ultimate  victory  is  im- 
plied.    There  was  no  fear  of  failure  in  the  heart 


56       THE  MISSIONAEY  MANIFESTO 

of  the  King.  The  age  initiated  by  His  first  advent 
will  be  consummated  at  His  second  j  and  through 
all  the  toil  He  abides  with  His  people,  leading 
them  in  perpetual  triumph  as  they  abide  in  fel- 
lowship with  Him. 

The  realization  of  the  promise  of  His  abiding 
presence  is  entirely  dependent  upon  the  Churches 
willingness  to  fulfill  her  responsibility.  She  haa 
no  right  to  apply  this  gracious  word  to  herself 
save  as  she  fulfills  the  conditions  imposed.  If  we 
have  no  passion  in  our  hearts  for  the  discipling 
of  the  nations,  we  have  no  warrant  for  believing 
that  He  remains  in  fellowship  with  us. 


THE  COMMISSION  ACCORDING  TO 
MARK 


**  Go  ye  into  all  the  kosmos,  and  preach  the  Gospel 
to  the  whole  creation.  He  that  believeth  and  is  bap- 
tized shall  be  saved  ;  but  he  that  disbelieve th  shall  be 
condemned." — Mark  i6  :  15,  16. 


in 

THE  EVANGEL  TO  CEEATION 

THE  events  chronicled  by  Mark,  and 
those  recorded  by  Luke  and  John,  oc- 
curred on  the  first  day  in  the  resurrec- 
tion life  of  Jesus.  That  was  a  day  full  of  start- 
ling surprises  for  the  disciples.  The  Cross  had 
been  to  them  the  disaster  of  disasters,  blighting 
their  hopes,  and  scattering  them  like  chaff  before 
the  wind.  With  the  dawn  of  the  first  day  of  the 
week  there  had  come  to  a  little  company  of  wait- 
ing, weeping  women  the  consciousness  that  Jesus 
was  not  dead,  but  alive.  A  little  later  He  had 
appeared  personally  to  Mary  of  Magdala.  Peter 
and  John  had  together  looked  at  the  place  where 
He  had  lain,  and  had  been  convinced  of  super- 
natural resurrection  by  the  remarkable  way  in 
which  the  grave- cloths  still  lay  undisturbed,  as 
they  had  been  wrapped  about  His  body.  At 
some  hour  in  the  day  Christ  had  found  Peter,  and 
had  a  private  interview  with  him.  In  the  same 
day  He  had  joined  two  disciples  on  the  way  to 
59 


60       THE  MISSION AEY  MAOTFESTO 

Emmaus,  and  to  them  had  opened  the  Scriptures, 
finally  making  Himself  known  to  them  in  the 
breaking  of  the  bread.  These  two,  immediately 
after  He  had  passed  out  of  sight,  had  hastened 
back  to  Jerusalem  to  tell  the  ten  that  they  had 
actually  been  in  company  with  the  risen  Lord. 
Before  they  could  recount  what  had  happened  to 
them,  the  ten  had  a  story  to  tell  them.  They 
had  not  seen  Jesus,  but  having  heard  of  the  in- 
terview with  Peter,  declared  '^The  Lord  is  risen 
indeed,  and  hath  appeared  to  Simon. '^  Some  of 
them  doubted.  They  were  all  on  the  borderland 
between  the  light  and  darkness,  and  nothing 
seemed  clearly  defined  or  certain. 

Suddenly,  without  the  opening  of  a  door,  or 
the  shooting  of  a  bolt,  or  the  turning  of  a  key, 
Jesus  stood  materially  manifest  in  their  midst. 
Mark,  Luke,  and  John  tell  the  story  of  that  ap- 
pearing. These  stories  do  not  contradict  each 
other.  They  are  quite  different  in  many  respects, 
but  they  are  complementary  j  and  all  are  needed 
to  a  full  appreciation  of  what  took  place  in  the 
upper  room  on  that  occasion  of  His  first  meeting 
with  the  ten.  Mark,  who  in  all  likelihood  re- 
ceived his  account  from  Peter,  recorded  those 
words  which  had  supremely  impressed  Peter. 


THE  EVANGEL  TO  CEEATION        61 

Luke,  the  artist  historian,  gatheriDg  up  the 
testimony  of  eye-witnesses  and  putting  them  in 
order  for  his  friend  Theophilus,  recorded  the 
words  which  he  accounted  of  supreme  importance. 
John  recorded  words,  the  deepest  and  pro- 
foundest,  omitted  by  the  others  in  all  probability 
because  the  mystic  note  was  beyond  their  com- 
prehension. 

The  Gospel  according  to  Mark  is  that  which 
preeminently  reveals  Jesus  as  the  Servant  of 
God.  It  is  interesting  to  remember  that  the  book 
of  the  Old  Testament  which  reveals  the  Servant 
of  God  is  the  prophecy  of  Isaiah.  To  that 
prophecy  Mark  made  reference  in  the  very  first 
sentences  of  his  Gospel,  when  introducing  the 
herald  of  Messiah  he  declared  that  he  came  in 
fulfillment  of  the  prophecy  of  Isaiah,  which  fore- 
told the  sending  of  a  messenger  to  prepare  the 
way  of  the  Lord. 

In  the  messages  of  the  ancient  prophet  there 
are  evidences  of  his  almost  overwhelming  sense 
of  the  polluting  effect  upon  the  whole  earth  of 
the  sin  of  man.  Perhaps  this  is  most  pointedly 
and  clearly  declared  in  the  twenty-fourth  chapter. 
When  we  turn  to  the  Gospel  of  Mark  we  find 
that  he  chronicled  the  words  in  the  commission 


62       THE  MISSIONAEY  MANIFESTO 

of  Jesus  which  reveal  the  fact  that  the  ultimate 
purpose  of  His  mission  was  that  of  the  redemp- 
tion and  renewal  of  the  whole  creation  through 
the  salvation  of  individual  men. 

In  our  consideration  of  this  aspect  of  the  com- 
mission we  shall  again  seek  to  discover  the 
deposit,  the  debt,  and  the  dynamic. 

First,  then,  as  to  the  deposit,  that  particular 
truth  committed  to  the  Church,  for  the  proclama- 
tion of  which  she  is  held  responsible.  This  is  only- 
suggested  by  one  inclusive  word,  which,  stand- 
ing alone,  is  characterized  by  indefiniteness. 
The  word  ^'Gospel ''  is  inclusive,  but  it  needs  ex- 
planation if  we  would  understand  the  nature  of 
the  deposit  suggested. 

The  inclusive  context  illuminates  the  indefinite 
word,  until  it  becomes  perfectly  clear.  We  must, 
however,  take  time  to  consider  that  context 
patiently,  in  order  to  understand  what  our  Lord 
meant  by  the  term  'Hhe  Gospel''  on  this  occa- 
sion. Now  if  we  can  read  this  story  with  the 
same  naturalness  that  would  characterize  our 
reading  of  it  for  the  first  time,  we  shall  be  greatly 
helped.  This  is  not  easy  to  do,  the  reason  being 
that  we  have  constantly  recited  the  commission 
in  separation  from  its  context.     Indeed,  it  may 


THE  EVANGEL  TO  CEEATION        63 

safely  be  afi&rmed  that  very  few  without  careful 
examination  are  at  all  conscious  of  the  fact  that 
while  the  commission  is  a  separate  and  distinct 
command  it  nevertheless  here  constitutes  one 
link  in  a  continuous  story ;  and  it  is  perfectly 
certain  that  it  can  only  be  accurately  interpreted 
as  that  is  remembered.  To  treat  the  commission 
without  reference  to  the  context  makes  it  neces- 
sary to  attempt  to  formulate  an  exposition  of 
what  Jesus  meant  by  the  term  ^  ^  the  Gospel. ' '  To 
consider  the  commission  as  a  part  of  a  continuous 
story  is  to  discover  the  fact  that  He  meant  one 
thing. 

Let  us  first,  then,  examine  that  story  in  order  to 
discover  the  sequence  of  events.  We  need  go  no 
further  back  than  the  ninth  verse.  Beginning 
there  we  discover  the  sequence. 

Jesus  appeared  to  Mary  of  Magdala.  She 
carried  the  news  to  the  mourning  disciples  that 
she  had  actually  seen  Him  alive,  and  they  disbe- 
lieved. 

He  appeared  in  another  form  to  two  on  the  way 
to  Emmaus.  These  also  returned  and  told  the 
story,  and  still  they  did  not  believe. 

Finally,  He  stood  in  the  upper  room,  and  His 
first  words  were  those  in  which  He  rebuked  this 


64       THE  MISSIONAEY  MANIFESTO 

unbelief,  and  then  immediately  said,  *'Go  ye 
.  .  .  and  preach  the  Gospel  ...  he  that 
believeth  .  .  .  shall  be  saved  ...  he 
that  disbelieveth  shall  be  condemned.^' 

In  order  that  we  may  be  perfectly  clear  about 
this,  let  us  mark  the  sequence  in  other  words. 
Mary  of  Magdala  declared  she  had  seen  the  liv- 
ing Lord.  The  disciples  did  not  believe  this. 
Two  men  who  walked  to  Emmaus  declared  that 
they  had  seen  the  living  Lord.  The  disciples  did 
not  believe  it.  Jesus  upbraided  them  for  this  un- 
belief, and  then  said,  ^^  Go  .  .  .  and  preach 
the  Gospel  ...  he  that  believeth  .  .  . 
shall  be  saved  .  .  .  he  that  disbelieveth  shall 
be  condemned.'^ 

What  then  is  "the  Gospel  ^'  ?  It  is  the  good 
news  that  the  Lord  is  risen.  It  may  be  affirmed 
that  this  is  a  narrowing  of  the  intention  of  the 
great  word  in  this  commission  ;  that  nothing  is 
said  of  the  teaching  of  Jesus,  the  life  of  Jesus, 
the  Cross  of  Jesus.  As  a  matter  of  fact  all  these 
are  involved  in  resurrection,  and  become  parts  of 
the  Gospel  because  of  the  resurrection.  If  we 
only  have  the  teaching  of  Jesus,  we  have  no 
Gospel.  If  we  only  have  the  account  of  His  per- 
fect life,  we  have  no  Gospel.    If  we  only  have  the 


THE  EVANGEL  TO  CEEATION        65 

Cross,  we  have  no  Gospel.  All  these  become 
part  of  the  Gospel  because  of  its  central  truth, 
which  is  that  of  the  resurrection.  The  deposit, 
then,  the  essential  and  central  truth  referred  to  in 
this  phase  of  the  commission,  is  that  of  the  actual 
resurrection  of  Jesus  from  among  the  dead. 
The  resurrection  of  Jesus  was  the  demonstration 
of  His  perfect  victory  over  all  opposing  forces ; 
and  of  the  fact  that  His  victory  enabled  Him  to 
baptize  such  as  believe  in  Him  into  union  with 
His  life. 

In  demonstration  of  the  truth  of  the  latter  part 
of  this  assertion,  let  His  words  immediately  fol- 
lowing be  carefully  considered.  ' '  He  that  be- 
lieveth  and  is  baptized  shall  be  saved  ;  but  he 
that  disbelieveth  shall  be  condemned.  And  these 
signs  shall  follow  them  that  believe,  in  My  Name 
shall  they  cast  out  demons  ;  they  shall  speak  with 
new  tongues  ;  they  shall  take  up  serpents,  and  if 
they  drink  any  deadly  thing,  it  shall  in  no  wise 
hurt  them  ;  they  shall  lay  hands  on  the  sick,  and 
they  shall  recover."  It  is  of  the  utmost  impor- 
tance that^we  carefully  observe  that  the  Lord  did 
not  say  that  these  signs  should  accompany  the 
preacher.  The  idea  is  not  that  those  who  pro- 
claim the  resurrection  shall  work  these  signs  aa 


66       THE  MISSIONARY  MAMFESTO 

evidences  of  the  truth  of  resurrection.  The  actual 
statement  is  that  ^Hhese  signs  shall  follow  them 
that  believe.'^  All  men  believing  on  Him  were, 
as  the  result  of  His  resurrection,  to  be  brought 
into  possession  of  that  life  whose  forces  operate  in 
the  ways  suggested.  By  this  I  do  not  say  that 
the  preachers  were  not  able  to  do  the  things 
described,  but  that  the  signs  were  not  peculiar 
gifts  bestowed  upon  men,  equipping  them  for 
work.  They  were  rather  evidences  of  the  new 
ability  granted  to  such  as  believe  the  evangel. 

Let  us  mark  the  suggestiveness  of  all  this  when 
taken,  as  it  must  be  taken,  in  connection  with 
the  term  *  ^  the  Gospel.  ^  ^  ^  ^  The  Gospel  ^ '  is  that  of 
the  risen  Lord.  His  resurrection  means  that  He 
has  mastered  death,  and  therefore  has  overcome 
all  the  destructive  forces  operating  in  creation — 
such  forces  as  have  spoiled  and  blighted  human- 
ity, and  through  the  spoiling  of  humanity  have 
blighted  and  spoiled  the  whole  creation. 
Whether  these  forces  be  supernatural,  those  who 
believe  in  His  Name  shall  be  able  to  cast  them 
out.  Whether  they  be  the  forces  of  social  dis- 
order, which  began  with  Babel  and  its  confusion 
of  tongues,  those  who  believe  shall  have  the  new 
articulation,     ^Hhey    shall    speak    with    new 


THE  EVANGEL  TO  CEEATION        67 

tongues/'  and  thus  come  to  new  mutual  under- 
standing. Whether  they  be  the  forces  that  are 
destructive  in  the  material  realm ;  serpents,  or 
poison,  or  sickness ;  serpents  and  poison,  the 
symbols  of  the  destructive  forces  of  nomadic  or 
savage  peoples  ;  or  sickness,  the  destructive  force 
resulting  from  civilization  j  those  who  believe 
enter  into  the  realm  of  mastery  over  the  former, 
and  receive  healing  for  all  the  latter. 

The  risen  Lord  is  Himself  the  Master  of  all 
destructive  forces,  and  those  who,  coming  into 
living  union  with  Him  through  His  resurrection 
receive  of  His  strength,  are  also  to  gain  victories 
over  these  forces. 

What,  then,  is  the  picture  that  rises  before  the 
mind  as  one  reads  this  commission  in  its  neces- 
sary relation  to  the  context?  It  is  that  of  the 
risen  Lord  as  the  Eenewer  of  creation,  as  the  One 
Who,  passing  through  death  into  the  place  of 
resurrection  victory,  becomes  not  merely  the 
Saviour  of  the  spirits  of  men,  but  the  Eenewer  of 
the  whole  territory  of  human  life  ;  and  therefore 
the  One  Whose  power  will  be  felt  in  all  the  crea- 
tion that  lies  beneath  man  which  has  been  pol- 
luted and  spoiled  by  his  touch.  In  the  twenty- 
fourth  chapter  of  Isaiah,  to  which  we  have  al- 


68       THE  MISSIONAEY  MANIFESTO 

ready  made  reference,  these  words  occur,  '^The 
earth  also  is  polluted  under  the  inhabitants 
thereof  j  because  they  have  transgressed  the  laws, 
changed  the  ordinance,  broken  the  everlasting 
covenant.  ^  ^  Let  us  place  by  the  side  of  that  word 
of  Isaiah  the  word  of  Paul,  ''  The  whole  creation 
groaneth  and  travaileth  in  pain  together  until 
now.'^ 

If  the  first  phase  of  the  Missionary  Manifesto 
was  that  of  the  absolute  Lordship  of  Jesus,  which 
the  Church  is  to  affirm  and  declare,  the  second  is 
that  of  the  risen  Jesus  Who  is  Eenewer  and  Ee- 
storer  of  the  whole  creation. 

This  is  the  great  glad  news  committed  to  the 
Church,  and  we  have  been  in  danger  of  mini- 
mizing the  meaning  of  the  Gospel.  Our  outlook 
has  been  appallingly  narrow,  and  we  have  disas- 
trously failed  to  see  the  application  of  the  fact  »f 
the  resurrection  of  Christ  to  the  whole  creation. 
Our  failure  to  discover  His  meaning  does  not 
mean  His  failure  to  work  His  purposes  out  to  final 
fulfillment.  He  is  the  risen  Lord,  and  is  therefore 
Master  of  death.  He  is  also,  therefore.  Master  of 
all  the  forces  that  spoil,  and  is  able  to  renew 
everything  that  has  been  corrupted. 

What,  then,  in  this  respect  is  our  debtr?    At  this 


THE  EVANGEL  TO  CEEATIOl!^        69 

point  the  commission  leaves  us  in  no  doubt.  The 
words  of  Jesus  are  perfectly  clear.  ^'  Go  ye  into 
all  the  kosmos,  and  herald  the  evangel  to  the 
whole  creation.'^  A  natural  reading  of  these 
words  should  immediately  arrest  attention  by 
reason  of  the  inclusive  nature  of  the  terms,  *  *  the 
kosmos,''  and  "the  whole  creation." 

By  translating  the  former  'Hhe  world''  we 
have  been  at  least  in  danger  of  thinking  that  our 
Lord's  reference  was  to  humanity  only.  As  a 
matter  of  fact  it  is  a  far  more  comprehensive 
term,  which  He  interprets  by  the  second  of  the 
phrases  referred  to,  "the  whole  creation."  To 
take  the  first  term,  "the  kosmos,"  and  to  trace 
the  history  of  the  word,  is  to  be  admitted  to  the 
larger  outlook.  The  Greek  word  kosmos  origi- 
nally signified  an  ornament,  or  something  beau- 
tiful. It  was  a  word  used  entirely  in  the  realm 
of  art.  In  process  of  time,  long  before  the  min- 
istry of  Jesus  was  exercised  or  these  Gospel 
stories  were  written,  the  word  acquired  a  more 
spacious  meaning,  and  was  used  in  reference  to 
the  whole  universe,  because  the  Greek  mind 
came  to  an  understanding  of  the  fact  that  the 
universe  is  beautiful  and  orderly.  Then  again, 
as  the  Greek  mind  failed  to  grasp  the  truth  of 


70       THE  MISSIONAEY  MANIFESTO 

the  spiritual,  the  word  passed  back  into  a  more 
restricted  use,  and  was  applied  to  the  material 
frame  in  the  midst  of  which  man  lives  his  life. 
In  the  days  in  which  John  made  use  of  it— and 
it  was  peculiarly  his  word  among  Kew  Testament 
writers — it  referred  to  the  earth  and  the  heavens 
enwrapping  it,  the  heaven  of  the  atmosphere 
and  the  heaven  of  the  stellar  spaces,  that  system 
of  which  our  planet  is  so  small  a  part. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  the  word  stands  for 
much  more  than  the  people  who  lived  upon  the 
surface  of  the  earth.  It  refers  to  the  whole  earth 
in  its  order,  its  beauty,  and  its  forces.  The 
declaration  of  the  Old  Testament  — 

*  The  earth  is  Jehovah's,  and  the  fullness  thereof ; 
The  world,  and  they  that  dwell  therein," 

suggests  all  that  is  included  in  the  term  "kos- 
mos." 

Jesus  made  use  of  the  word  in  this  simple 
sense  as  including  the  earth  and  the  fullness 
thereof,  all  its  hidden  treasures,  its  boundless  re- 
sources, and  its  yet  undiscovered  secrets.  He 
recognized  that  the  whole  earth  in  all  its  fullness 
needed  His  evangel,  not  merely  men  and  women, 
but  beasts  and  birds  and  flowers,  in  order  to  the 


THE  eva:ngel  to  creation      71 

discovery  and  utilization  of  the  secret  resources 
of  the  earth.  So  that  the  whole  may  become  a 
thing  of  glorious  beauty,  the  earth  needs  the  re- 
demption of  the  King. 

That  we  may  have  added  light  on  this  subject 
let  us  turn  to  other  passages  of  Scripture.  In  the 
Book  of  Genesis  we  have  a  wonderful  picture  of 
creation  rising  by  the  will  of  God,  and  by  His 
power,  scale  upon  scale,  ever  higher,  until  at  last 
by  a  new  and  distinct  act  of  God,  He,  taking  the 
highest  thing  in  the  lower  creation,  by  inbreath- 
ing separated  it  by  infinite  distances  from  every- 
thing that  lies  beneath  it.  He  created  man,  and 
by  the  last  act  in  the  creative  process  made  him 
infinitely  more  than  an  animal.  Having  thus 
created  him,  He  gave  him  dominion  over  all  the 
creation  beneath  him  to  which  he  was  linked  by 
the  earlier  processes  of  his  making.  That  cre- 
ation was  placed  under  his  control  in  order  to  its 
development  and  perfecting.  Man  in  the  image 
and  likeness  of  God,  was  placed  where  he  might 
act  in  fellowship  with  God  for  the  discovery  of 
the  hidden  secrets  of  the  earth,  and  the  bringing 
of  them  to  ultimate  perfection. 

Turning  to  the  Book  of  Psalms,  that  wonder- 
ful literature  of  Hebrew  expectation  and  hope 


72       THE  MISSIONAEY  MANIFESTO 

and  confidence,  we  hear  one  of  the  singers  of 
Israel  as  he  first  inquires  — 

"  What  is  man,  that  Thou  art  mindful  of  him  ?  " 

and  then,  as  in  harmony  with  the  original  story 
of  creation,  he  declares  — 

"  Thou  hast  put  all  things  under  his  feet : 
All  sheep  and  oxen, 
Yea,  and  the  beasts  of  the  field ; 
The  fowl  of  the  air,  and  the  fish  of  the  sea, 
"Whatsoever  passeth  through  the  paths  of  the  seas." 

We  pass  to  the  New  Testament,  and  the  writer 
of  the  letter  to  the  Hebrews,  a  logician  as  well  as 
a  poet,  declares,  after  quoting  from  the  singer  of 
Israel,  that  all  the  Divine  intention  is  seen  real- 
ized in  Christ  as  representative  Man.  ^'  Now  we 
see  not  yet  all  things  subjected  to  Him.  But  we 
behold  Him  Who  hath  been  made  a  little  lower 
than  the  angels,  even  Jesus."  He  thus  affirmed 
that  while  all  things  are  not  yet  seen  under  the 
perfect  dominion  of  man,  Jesus  is  seen,  the  risen 
Christ,  and  the  vision  of  Him  is  the  assurance 
that  the  whole  creation  will  yet  be  redeemed 
from  its  groaning  and  travailing  in  pain,  and 
realize  the  fullness  of  its  beauty  and  glory. 

If  that  threefold  picture,  or  rather  that  one 


THE  EVANGEL  TO  CEEATION        73 

picture  presented  in  the  three  parts  of  our  Bible 
be  clearly  seen,  then  the  meaning  of  this  com- 
mission will  be  correctly  understood.  Man  in 
the  economy  of  God  is  king  of  the  kosmos,  but 
he  has  lost  his  sceptre,  has  lost  the  key  of  the 
mysteries  of  the  world  in  which  he  lives,  and 
cannot  govern  it  as  he  ought  to  govern,  is  un- 
able to  realize  the  creation  that  lies  beneath  him. 
Therefore  the  kingdom  of  man  is  a  devastated 
kingdom,  because  he  is  a  discrowned  king  ;  or 
in  the  language  of  Isaiah,  '^the  earth  also  is 
polluted  under  the  inhabitants  thereof.^'  Man's 
moral  disease  has  permeated  the  material  uni- 
verse;  or  as  Paul  said,  "the  whole  creation 
groaneth  and  travaileth  in  pain  together  until 
now  .  .  .  waiting  for  the  manifestation  of 
the  sons  of  God.''  Man's  moral  regeneration 
will  permeate  the  material  universe,  and  issue 
in  its  remaking. 

In  the  upper  room  on  the  day  of  His  resur- 
rection, Jesus  stood  in  the  midst  of  a  group  of 
disciples  who  were  so  filled  with  fear  that  they 
had  gathered  within  barred  doors.  He  stood 
there  as  the  Man  of  God  in  the  midst  of  crea- 
tion, AVTio  had  regained  the  sceptre,  and  had 
mastered  death  and  all  the  forces  destructive  of 


74       THE  MISSIONAEY  MANIFESTO 

the  creation.  He  was  there  as  Eedeemer,  Ee- 
generator,  Eenewer,  ''the  First-born  from  among 
the  dead/^  communicating  His  victorious  life  to 
others,  and  through  them  to  the  whole  creation. 

To  this  group  of  men  He  spoke  words  of  re- 
proof for  their  unbelief,  and  commanded  them 
that  they  should  go  into  the  kosmos  and  herald 
the  Gospel  of  His  resurrection  to  the  whole  crea- 
tion. Thus  He  gave  to  these  men,  the  first  rep- 
resentatives of  the  Church,  as  He  also  gives  to 
the  Church  to-day,  the  charge  to  pass  out  into 
contact  with  the  kosmos,  and  to  proclaim  to 
the  whole  creation  the  triumphant  story  of  His 
victory. 

Our  responsibility  to  Him  is  that  we  obey. 
Our  debt  to  the  world  is  that  we  obey.  Chaos 
created  the  agony  of  the  Cross.  Wherever  He 
came  into  the  midst  of  disorder.  He  suffered. 
He,  before  Whose  vision  there  flamed  perpetu- 
ally the  glory  of  the  Divine  ideal,  felt  the 
anguish  of  God  in  the  presence  of  the  degra- 
dation of  that  ideal.  All  wounds  and  weariness, 
all  sin  and  sorrow,  not  only  of  man,  but  through 
man  in  creation,  surged  upon  His  heart  in  waves 
of  anguish.  He  called  His  disciples  into  fellow- 
ship with  Himself  in  this  suffering.     That  for- 


THE  EVANGEL  TO  CEEATION        76 

evermore  settles  the  question  of  the  monastic 
ideal,  as  it  reveals  how  completely  it  is  opi^osed 
to  the  method  of  Jesus.  The  suffering  of  the 
flowers  can  never  be  cured  if  we  do  not  touch 
them.  The  agony  of  the  birds  can  never  be 
ended  save  as  we  care  for  them.  The  earth  can 
never  be  lifted  from  its  dullness  and  deadness, 
and  made  to  blossom  into  glorious  harvest,  save 
as  it  is  touched  by  the  life  of  renewed  humanity. 
That  is  the  story  of  the  sufferings  of  Christ.  He 
came  into  the  world.  Himself  of  the  eternal 
Order,  full  of  grace  and  truth,  and  in  the  con- 
sciousness of  chaos  and  disorder  He  suffered.  To 
press  that  far  enough,  and  to  consider  it  long 
enough,  is  to  come  to  the  profound  and  ultimate 
note  in  the  mystery  of  atonement.  If  we  indeed 
have  crowned  Him,  and  His  life  is  in  us,  we 
shall  be  ''partakers  of  His  sufferings." 

Such  suffering  results  in  healing,  as  it  makes 
possible  the  communication  of  the  virtue  of  the 
strong  life  to  the  weak,  in  order  to  its  strength- 
ening. In  our  former  consideration  we  referred 
to  the  words  of  Jesus,  ''be  not  afraid  of  them 
which  kill  the  body,  but  are  not  able  to  kill  the 
soul."  That  great  injunction  has  many  possi- 
bilities  of  application.     Let  us  reverently  re- 


76       THE  MISSIONAEY  MA:N^IFEST0 

member  that  Jesus  Himself  is  the  supreme  expo- 
sition of  it  J  and  moreover,  that  its  ultimate 
value  is  discovered  in  this  application.  He  gave 
His  body  to  bruising  and  bulfeting  and  death, 
having  no  fear  of  such  as  killed  the  body  j  but 
by  doing  so  He  liberated  the  forces  of  His  life 
that  by  their  liberation  they  might  become  the  re- 
newing, regenerating  forces  of  men,  and  through 
men  of  the  whole  creation.  The  Cross  will  never 
have  won  its  final  victory  until  the  new  heavens 
and  the  new  earth  are  established  as  the  result 
of  His  redeeming  and  regenerating  work.  That 
is  the  goal  towards  which  we  are  to  look  in  all 
our  service. 

Therefore  the  perpetual  principle  of  missionary 
endeavour  is  that  of  passing  into  the  kosmos, 
and  so  into  the  suffering,  and  thus  into  ability 
to  communicate  renewing  forces.  The  principle 
is  supremely  illustrated  occasionally,  but  is  con- 
stantly manifest  in  the  Christian  life.  The 
supreme  illustrations  are  contained  in  the  story 
of  those  who,  like  their  Lord  and  Master,  have 
laid  down  their  lives.  Through  them  the  spirit- 
ual forces  have  been  liberated,  and  the  results 
in  the  world  have  been  far  greater  than  can  be 
measured.     It  is  by  virtue  communicated,  the 


THE  EVA:t^GEL  TO  CREATION        77 

actual  expenditure  of  force  tbrougli  sufferiug  that 
the  Gospel  is  preached  to  the  whole  creation. 

All  this  work  must  be  done  in  the  right  order. 
The  Church  must  ever  commence  by  the  proc- 
lamation of  the  evangel  to  men.  To  go  to  the 
material  world,  either  in  garden  or  city,  and  to 
attempt  to  reconstruct  it  in  order  that  it  may  re- 
make men  is  to  invert  the  Divine  order,  and  to 
fail.  The  Church  must  always  begin  with  man, 
but  she  must  not  forget  that  the  emphasis  of 
this  commission  is  that  the  ultimate  result  of 
man's  remaking  is  that  of  the  renewal  of  the 
whole  creation.  The  kosmos  will  be  redeemed 
when  man,  who  is  king  of  the  kosmos,  is  regene- 
rate. He  will  be  able  to  restore  it  to  its  order, 
and  lead  it  to  the  fulfillment  of  Divine  purpose. 

Many  practical  illustrations  of  this  might  be 
given.  Take  one  of  the  simplest.  The  garden 
of  a  truly  Christian  man  ought  to  be  the  most 
beautiful  in  the  whole  district.  When  it  is  not 
so,  it  is  because  he  is  not  living  in  the  full  power 
of  the  risen  Christ.  When  the  garden  of  the  un- 
godly man  flourishes  it  is  always  because  he  is 
availing  himself  of  discoveries  that  have  come 
as  the  result  of  the  cooperation  of  renewed  men 
with  God.     I  sometimes  think  that  if  I  am  to 


78        THE  MISSIONAEY  MANIFESTO 

judge  the  Christianity  of  London  by  looking  at 
its  gardens,  it  is  an  extremely  poor  thing.  Let  us 
keep  hold  of  the  philosophy  of  the  simple  illus- 
tration. That  conception  of  Christian  responsi- 
bility which  aims  at  the  saving  of  individual  men, 
while  it  is  utterly  careless  of  the  groaning  of 
creation,  is  entirely  out  of  harmony  with  the 
meaning  of  this  commission.  The  home  of  the 
Christian  man  ought  to  be  a  microcosm  of  the 
Millennial  Kingdom  ;  and  all  the  things  of  God^s 
dear  world — and  how  He  loves  it,  flowers,  and 
birds,  and  forces — ought  to  feel  the  touch  of  re- 
deemed humanity,  and  be  lifted  into  fuller  life 
thereby. 

We  pass  finally  to  the  subject  of  the  dynamic. 
This  is  no  more  clearly  revealed  than  is  the  de- 
posit, but  it  is  as  certainly  involved.  When 
Jesus  said,  '^  He  that  believeth  and  is  baptized, 
shall  be  saved  ;  but  he  that  disbelieveth  shall  be 
condemned,"  He  suggested  a  response  on  the 
part  of  God  to  a  certain  attitude  on  the  part  of 
man.  The  alternative  attitudes  are  described  in 
the  phrases,  ''he  that  believeth,"  ''  he  that  dis- 
believeth." The  ultimate  results  are  described 
in  the  words  "shall  be  saved"  and  *' shall  be 
condemned."     The  dynamic  phrase  is  ''and  is 


THE  EVANGEL  TO  CEEATION        79 

baptized."  That  refers  to  the  work  of  God. 
No  man  can  baptize  himself,  or  be  baj^tized  by 
another.  Essential  baptism  is  bai^tism  in  the 
Spirit.  Water  baptism  is  symbolic.  In  the 
moment  in  which  a  man  believes,  he  is  bai)tized 
by  God  in  the  Spirit,  and  so  into  the  resurrection 
life  of  Jesus,  and  therefore  he  is  saved.  If  a  man 
disbelieve,  he  is  not  saved,  but  rather  condemned 
because  he  does  not  enter  into  the  regenerate  life, 
seeing  that  he  lacks  baptism  in  the  Spirit.  The 
suggestion  of  these  words  is  that  as  we  herald  the 
evangel  of  the  Cross  we  do  so  in  cooperation 
with  the  risen  Lord,  so  that  when  men,  hearing 
the  evangel,  believe,  they  are  immediately  bap- 
tized into  living  union  with  the  living  Christ, 
and  so  come  into  possession  of  the  regenerative 
forces,  which  being  applied,  produce  the  restora- 
tion of  creation. 

The  revelation  of  these  words,  then,  is  that 
those  who  fuUill  this  commission  shall  be  ac- 
companied by  the  Lord  Himself,  cooperating 
with  them  in  the  communication  of  life  by  the 
Spirit,  to  those  who  believe  their  message.  Men 
who  hear  and  believe  shall  receive  this  power. 
The  man  who  believes  shall  gain  victory  over 
spiritual  forces,  he  shall  cast  out  devils  ;  over  all 


80       THE  MISSIOl^TAEY  MANIFESTO 

social  disorder,  lie  shall  speak  with  new  tongues ; 
over  all  destructive  forces,  poisons,  and  serpents, 
and  sicknesses.  The  man  who  hearing,  disbe- 
lieves, will  remain  in  the  grip  of  devils,  in  the 
confusion  of  Babel,  the  prey  of  the  destructive 
forces  which  work  in  Nature.  The  mastery  of 
the  forces  in  Nature  that  spoil  is  possible  through 
regenerative  men.  We  must  not  neglect  any 
force  which  God  has  put  in  the  universe,  nor 
count  the  healing  virtues  of  trees  and  plants  as 
outside  His  economy.  In  the  power  of  His 
resurrection  life  man  discovers  and  uses  the 
whole  creation  by  mastery  over  it,  in  order  that 
it  may  minister  to  him,  according  to  God's  first 
intention. 

In  order  to  fulfillment  of  such  responsibility 
the  first  necessity  is  that  of  a  living  experience  of 
the  risen  Lord.  There  is  no  healing  virtue  in 
the  doctrine  of  resurrection.  The  healing  virtue 
flows  through  the  risen  Lord.  No  healing  virtue 
can  be  communicated  by  orthodox  announcement 
of  the  fact  of  His  resurrection.  The  healing  vir- 
tue can  only  be  communicated  by  those  through 
whom  the  life  of  the  risen  Lord  is  flowing. 

Not  only  must  there  be  this  living  experience 
of  the  risen  Lord,  there  must  be  obedience  to  His 


THE  EVANGEL  TO  CEEATION        81 

command.  We  must  go  into  the  kosmos,  plac- 
ing our  lives  in  contact  with  creation,  and  pour- 
ing them  out  therein,  in  order  that  by  such  sacri- 
fice creation  may  be  renewed. 

If  the  first  note  of  the  Missionary  Manifesto  be 
the  proclamation  of  the  Lordship  of  Christ,  the 
second  note  is  the  proclamation  of  the  risen  Lord 
as  the  Kenewer  of  the  whole  creation  ;  and  the 
only  way  in  which  that  proclamation  can  be 
made  is  by  passing  into  the  kosmos  in  order  to 
communicate  to  it  through  sacrificial  service  the 
forces  of  our  own  Christ-renewed  life.  We  have 
done  nothing  to  heal  the  groaning  of  creation 
when  we  have  discovered  the  glory  of  the  Gospel. 
We  have  done  nothing  towards  the  final  victory 
until  in  fellowship  with  our  Lord  we  have  put  the 
actual  forces  of  our  life  so  at  the  disposal  of  the 
debased  and  the  degraded  as  to  know  the  experi- 
ence of  suffering,  and  that  weakening  by  the  way, 
which  is  of  the  nature  of  death.  It  is  when  the 
Church  begins  to  see  the  suffering  of  creation 
with  eyes  washed  by  tears,  and  when  she  puts 
herself  into  such  close  relation  with  the  wounded 
world  as  to  share  its  agony,  and  as  to  release  her 
own  life  blood  to  heal  it,  that  this  commission 
will  be  obeyed. 


THE  COMMISSION  ACCORDING 
TO  LUKE 


**  Te  are  witnesses  of  these  things.  And  behold y  I 
send  forth  the  promise  of  My  Father  upon  you  :  but 
tarry  ye  in  the  city,  until  ye  be  clothed  with  power 
from  on  highJ** — Luke  24:  48-49. 


IV 

THE  WITNESSES 

THE  third  Gospel  was  written  by  a  Greek 
to  a  Greek.  Luke,  the  beloved  physi- 
cian, a  man  of  culture,  with  the  genius 
of  the  artist,  wrote  for  his  friend  Theophilus  a 
treatise  *^  concerning  all  that  Jesus  began  both  to 
do  and  to  teach."  Greece,  in  the  brief  and  bril- 
liant days  of  its  greatness,  gave  to  the  world  for 
so  small  a  country,  and  so  brief  a  history,  more 
men  of  outstanding  personal  greatness  than  any 
other  people  has  produced.  She  never  came  to 
anything  like  national  influence  of  a  lasting 
nature.  While  Greek  influence  has  permeated 
history,  and  obtains  to-day,  it  was  created  by 
the  strength  of  her  individual  sons,  rather  than 
by  her  realization  of  the  inter-relationships  be- 
tween men  as  they  result  in  a  Commonwealth. 
The  dominant  factor  in  Greek  greatness  and  in- 
fluence was  that  of  her  passion  for  the  perfection 
of  the  individual. 

The  writer  of  this  Gospel  was  under  the  in- 
fluence of  that  passion,  and  he  found  in  Jesus  the 
85 


86       THE  MISSIONAEY  MANIFESTO 

One  Who  both  filled  and  destroyed  the  Greek 
ideal.  With  inimitable  skill  Luke,  in  the  earlier 
parts  of  his  treatise,  portrayed  the  perfection  of 
his  Master.  This  portrayal  proceeds  along  the 
natural  line  of  development,  as  it  presents  first 
the  physical  in  the  story  of  the  birth ;  and  then 
proceeds  to  record  what  no  other  evangelist  refers 
to,  the  mental  development  as  manifest  in  what 
to-day  we  should  describe  as  the  period  of  adoles- 
cence J  finally  telling  of  how,  in  the  fullness  of 
manhood,  the  essential  spiritual  life  came  to  its 
perfection  for  service  by  the  mystic  anointing  of 
the  Holy  Spirit. 

Beyond  that,  he  shows  how  that  perfect  Per- 
sonality was  vocationally  perfected  through  proc- 
esses of  temptation,  and  teaching,  until  it  reached 
the  crowning  glory  of  the  transfiguration  mount. 
The  vision  of  Jesus  on  the  mount  of  transfigura- 
tion is  that  of  the  fulfillment  of  the  highest  and 
richest  conceptions  of  Greek  idealism. 

The  story,  however,  is  not  finished.  Luke  has 
now  to  tell  how,  to  the  amazement  of  lovers  and 
friends.  He  turned  His  back  upon  that  mountain 
height,  and  passing  through  the  valley  of  suffer- 
ing, set  His  face  towards  the  Cross  which,  as  Paul 
the  friend  of  Luke  declared,  was  to  the  Greek 


THE  WITNESSES  87 

foolishness.  To  the  Greek  it  must  indeed  have 
been  unutterable  foolishness,  for  the  Cross  spoiled 
the  individual  perfection,  and  broke  as  into  a 
thousand  fragments  the  great  ideal.  As  imagi- 
natively I  watch  Luke  at  his  work,  I  seem  to  see 
him  with  growing  wonder  setting  forth  the 
developing  perfection  of  this  Man,  until  all  the 
highest  and  best  of  that  system  of  philosophy  in 
which  he  had  been  trained  was  fulfilled  before 
his  eyes  in  the  radiant  splendour  of  the  crowned 
humanity  on  the  holy  mount.  Then  I  seem  to 
see  him  amazed  and  perplexed  as  he  foUows  the 
history  until  he  sees  the  beauty  marred  by  the 
disfigurement  of  the  brutal  Cross. 

If  that  had  been  all  the  story,  perhaps  Luke 
had  never  written  it,  for  so  far  it  is  the  story  of 
an  unutterable  disaster.  The  supreme  and  over- 
whelming marvel  was  that  of  the  resurrection, 
wherein  this  Man  returned,  out  of  the  mystery  of 
shameful  death,  in  a  glory  more  radiant  than  that 
in  which  He  had  stood  upon  the  mountain  height ; 
the  very  wounds  of  His  disfigurement  having 
become  the  supreme  unveilings  of  the  hitherto 
unrevealed  glory.  The  mould  of  Greek  idealism 
was  shattered  into  a  thousand  fragments  by  the 
perfection  of  Jesus.     It  could  not  contain  Him. 


88       THE  MISSIONAEY  MANIFESTO 

Beyond  the  foolishness  of  the  Cross,  He  stood  ar- 
rayed in  garments  of  light  and  glory,  Himself  ef- 
fulgent with  a  beauty  which  had  never  entered 
into  the  conception  of  Greek  philosophy.  Luke 
saw  this  Man  bringing  out  of  death  a  mystic 
power,  enabling  Him  to  communicate  the  dynamic 
of  His  own  human  perfection  to  the  bruised  and 
battered  sons  of  men.  Those  whom  Greek  ideal- 
ism would  treat  with  contempt  by  reason  of  their 
failure,  were  healed  and  remade,  and  themselves 
came  into  conformity  to  the  likeness  of  His  glory. 

The  resurrection  stories  as  told  by  Luke  em- 
phasize the  identity  of  the  Person  Whom  the  dis- 
ciples met  after  the  Cross  with  Him  Whom  they 
had  known  before  it  j  and  indicate  the  fact  that 
He  had  entered  into  another  life,  in  which  all  the 
limitations  of  the  days  of  His  flesh  had  passed 
away  forever. 

He  tells  of  how  He  walked  to  Emmaus,  un- 
known by  men  who  had  been  familiar  with  Him  ; 
and  then  of  how  He  revealed  Himself  to  them  in 
the  breaking  of  the  bread,  so  that  no  doubt  re- 
mained that  it  was  indeed  their  own  Lord  and 
Master. 

When  they  were  gathered  in  the  upper  room, 
and  all  the  doors  were  locked,  He  presenced  Him- 


THE  WITNESSES  89 

self  amongst  them,  without  the  opening  of  a  door, 
and  so  amazed  them  that  they  could  not  believe 
for  very  joy  and  wonder.  Then  in  order  to  allay 
their  fears,  and  demonstrate  His  identity.  He 
showed  them  His  hands  and  His  feet,  and  asking 
for  food,  partook  of  the  broiled  fish  which  they 
provided. 

When  Luke  writes  for  his  friend  Theophilus 
the  words  of  the  final  commission,  he  records 
those  which,  in  harmony  with  his  Gospel,  em- 
phasize the  fact  that  the  responsibility  of  the 
Church  is  that  of  revealing  to  the  world  the  per- 
fections of  Jesus  as  fulfilling  in  Himself  the  high- 
est ideals  of  individual  life,  and  as  accomplish- 
ing through  the  mystery  of  His  Cross  that  which 
makes  possible  the  remaking  of  those  who  have 
failed.     *'  Ye  are  witnesses  of  these  things." 

So  that,  as  in  the  Gospel  of  the  Kingship,  the 
commission  charges  us  to  proclaim  the  royalty  of 
Jesus ;  and  in  the  Gospel  of  the  perfect  Servant, 
the  commission  charges  us  to  share  in  His  suffer- 
ing and  saving  service  ;  in  the  Gospel  of  the  per- 
fections of  the  Son  of  God,  the  commission 
charges  us  that  we  are  to  reveal  these  perfections 
to  the  world  as  witnesses,  representing  by  repro- 
duction.    Here,  so  far  as  our  responsibility  is 


90       THE  MISSIONAEY  MANIFESTO 

concerned,  we  reach  the  most  stupendous  note  in 
the  missionary  commission.  We  shall  follow  the 
same  lines  of  consideration  as  those  adopted  in 
the  previous  studies— those  namely,  of  the  de- 
posit of  truth,  the  debt  of  responsibility,  and  the 
dynamic  of  accomplishment. 

These  divisions  are  perfectly  patent,  and  may 
thus  be  summarized.  The  deposit  is  indicated 
in  the  phrase  ''these  things"  ;  the  debt  is  re- 
vealed in  the  declaration,  "ye  are  witnesses"  ; 
and  the  dynamic  is  indicated  in  the  promise  and 
the  charge,  "I  send  forth  the  promise  of  My 
Father  upon  you  ;  but  tarry  ye  in  the  city,  until 
ye  be  clothed  with  power  from  on  high." 

First,  then,  as  to  the  deposit.  ' '  These  things. ' ' 
What  things?  The  answer  to  that  inquiry  must 
be  discovered  in  the  context.  The  text  in  itself 
is  incomplete,  and  to  consider  it  alone  might  be 
to  misinterpret  the  meaning  of  the  Master.  It  is 
well,  therefore,  that  we  should  read  again  the 
words  of  Jesus  immediately  preceding  : — 

"  These  are  My  words  which  I  spake  unto  you, 
while  I  was  yet  with  you,  how  that  all  things 
must  needs  be  fulfilled,  which  are  written  in  the 
law  of  Moses,  and  the  prophets,  and  the  Psalms, 
concerning  Me." 


THE  WITNESSES  91 

*^  Thus  it  is  written,  that  the  Christ  should  suf- 
fer, and  rise  again  from  the  dead  the  third 
day.^' 

^'And  that  repentance  and  remission  of  sins 
should  be  preached  in  His  name  unto  all  the  na- 
tions, beginning  from  Jerusalem." 

*'  Ye  are  witnesses  of  these  things." 

It  is  evident  that  the  meaning  of  the  Master's 
phrase,  'Hhese  things,"  must  be  discovered  by  a 
consideration  of  these  words.  The  things  referred 
to  fall  into  three  divisions.  In  the  first  He 
claimed  that  in  His  ministry  there  was  fulfillment 
of  the  economy  of  the  past:  ''All  things  must 
needs  be  fulfilled  which  are  written  in  the  law  of 
Moses,  and  the  prophets,  and  the  Psalms."  He 
claimed  in  the  second  place  that  the  way  of  ful- 
fillment was  that  of  His  own  suffering  and  resur- 
rection :  ' '  Thus  it  is  written,  that  the  Christ 
should  suffer,  and  rise  again  from  the  dead  the 
third  day."  He  claimed  finally  that  the  issue  of 
His  suffering  and  resurrection  was  the  initiation 
of  a  new  method  of  moral  and  spiritual  recon- 
struction for  men:  "That  repentance  and  re- 
mission of  sins  should  be  preached  in  His 
name." 

Of  ''these  things"— the  fulfiUment  of  the  an- 


92       THE  MISSIONAEY  MANIFESTO 

cient  economy  ;  the  suffering  and  glory  of  Christ ; 
the  reconstruction  of  human  nature — we  are  to  be 
witnesses. 

First  as  to  the  fulfillment  of  the  past.  The 
Hebrew  dispensation  had  been  one  of  hope  and  of 
expectation,  of  type  and  shadow  and  sugges- 
tion J  and  its  three  outstanding  qualities  are 
indicated  by  the  threefold  content  of  the  Old 
Testament  Scriptures,  to  which  our  Lord  referred 
in  the  language  perfectly  familiar  to  the  men 
of  His  day,  as  ^Hhe  law,  the  prophets,  and  the 
Psalms." 

In  the  law  of  Moses  was  contained  the  revela- 
tion of  the  will  of  God  for  man.  It  may  be  spoken 
of  as  the  presentation  of  the  ideal. 

The  history  of  the  people  was  that  of  failure  to 
realize  the  ideal,  and  in  that  section  of  the  Scrip- 
tures described  as  **the  prophets''  which  con- 
tained in  the  Hebrew  Bible  not  only  the  books 
which  we  describe  as  prophetic  but  the  books  of 
history,  we  have  the  teaching  which  corrects  the 
failure  and  recalls  to  the  original  ideal. 

In  the  Psalms,  which  contain  the  songs  of  men 
in  all  conditions  and  under  all  circumstances,  and 
reveal  their  aspirations,  we  have  the  prayers  of 
desire,  the  longings  of  the  human  heart  after  the 


THE  WITNESSES  93 

realization  of  that  ideal  presented  in  the  law,  and 
defended  in  the  prophets. 

The  initial  economy,  therefore,  had  been  that  of 
the  presentation  of  the  ideal,  the  ministry  of  cor- 
rection, and  the  experience  of  hope. 

The  claim  of  Christ  was  that  all  these  things 
were  fulfilled  in  Him  j  that  He  had  fulfilled  the 
ideal ;  that  in  life  and  teaching  He  had  vindicated 
the  prophetic  utterances  ;  that  in  His  ministry 
He  fulfilled  all  the  hopes  and  aspirations  of  the 
past.  As  the  law  had  been  the  expression  of  the 
master-principle  of  individual  and  social  life, 
that  namely  of  the  government  of  God,  He  ful- 
filled the  ideal  in  personal  experience  and  in 
authoritative  exposition.  The  corrections  of  the 
Divine  patience,  in  the  march  of  history,  in  the 
thunder  of  the  prophet  against  sin,  and  in  his 
sorrow  over  failure,  were  all  repeated  and  finally 
stated  in  His  own  ministry,  insisting  as  it  did 
upon  the  holiness  of  God  and  the  compassion  of 
His  heart.  The  aspirations  of  the  human  heart 
as  revealed  in  that  most  wonderful  collection  of 
devotional  utterances,  wherein,  under  the  guid- 
ance of  the  Spirit  of  God,  humanity  sang 
out  all  its  emotion,  were  all  answered  in 
Him,   and  through  Him,  in  the  experience  of 


94       THE  MISSIONAEY  MANIFESTO 

such  as  were  brouglit  into  living  association 
with  Him. 

The  stupendous  and  magnificent  claim  of  Christ 
was  that  all  these  things  of  the  past  found  fulfill- 
ment in  Him  j  and  the  charge  He  laid  upon  His 
disciples  was  that  they  were  to  be  witnesses  of 
these  things. 

By  this  commission,  then,  we  are  sent  into  the 
world  in  order  that  by  what  we  are  the  world  may 
know  that  the  highest  ideals  are  fulfilled  in 
Christ,  and  in  those  in  whom  the  Christ  life 
dwells  ;  that  the  corrections  of  all  prophetic  ut- 
terance may  be  obeyed  through  the  Christ  j  that 
the  aspirations  of  the  past  find  their  answer  in 
such  as  share  His  life. 

We  pass  reverently  to  the  second  phase  of 
responsibility,  that  namely  of  being  witnesses  to 
the  fact  of  the  suffering  and  glory  of  Christ.  In 
that  is  contained  the  whole  story  of  the  mission 
of  Christ,  that  mission  whereby  He  does  not  only 
fulfill  the  past,  but  initiates  the  new.  The 
thought  of  fulfillment  necessarily  involves  that 
of  transition.  From  the  old  which  presented 
ideals,  corrected  failures,  and  inspired  hope,  we 
come  presently  to  the  new,  that  which  bestows 
repentance  and  remission  of  sins,  so  that  there 


THE  WITNESSES  95 

may  be  realization.  Between  these  lay  the 
actual  work  of  the  Christ,  His  suffering  and  His 
glory,  His  travail  and  His  triumph.  His  death 
and  His  resurrection.  He  is  seen  standing  be- 
tween the  two,  fulfilling  the  expectation  of  the  old, 
creating  the  energy  for  the  new,  and  He  does  so 
by  the  way  of  death  and  resurrection.  Through 
His  witnesses  these  things  are  to  be  unfolded  to 
the  world.  Through  them  the  world  is  to  see  the 
suffering  Christ.  Through  them  the  world  is  to 
see  the  risen  Christ. 

At  this  point  it  is  of  supreme  importance  that 
we  remind  ourselves  of  that  to  be  considered  more 
fully  later,  that  witnessing  is  infinitely  more  than 
preaching.  The  doctrine  of  the  Cross  becomes 
dynamic  in  crucified  lives.  The  truth  of  the 
resurrection  becomes  triumphant  through  lives 
transfigured  by  resurrection. 

The  final  phase  of  witness  is  that  of  the  result 
produced  by  the  death  and  resurrection  of  Christ. 
Moral  reconstruction  is  both  demonstration  of  the 
resurrection  and  exposition  of  the  Cross.  The 
process  of  moral  reconstruction  is  here  indicated 
in  the  suggestive  words,  *^  repentance  and  remis- 
sion of  sins,'^  repentance  being  the  human  atti- 
tude, and  remission  of  sins  the  Divine  answer. 


96       THE  MISSIONAEY  MAII^FESTO 

Moral  reconstruction  always  begins  in  human  re- 
pentance, but  it  is  never  completed  save  in 
Divine  remission  of  sins.  Eepentance  is  the  de- 
sire in  man  for  renewal  and  reconstruction. 
Apart  from  it  no  man  is  ever  regenerated  or  re- 
newed. Eemission  of  sins  is  the  answer  of  God 
to  that  repentance.  Where  there  is  no  repent- 
ance there  can  be  no  remission.  Genuine  repent- 
ance based  on  faith,  and  expressing  itself  in  faith, 
is  always  answered  by  remission  of  sins.  The 
importance  of  the  inter-relation  between  these 
cannot  be  overstated.  The  only  hope  of  moral 
reconstruction  is  that  of  repentance. 

The  wonder  of  the  work  of  Christ  is  that  He 
gives  that  repentance,  and  the  responsibility  of 
the  Church  is  that  it  witnesses  to  that  fact.  To 
stand  in  the  presence  of  the  awful  purity  of 
Christ  is  to  come  into  the  place  of  repentance. 
For  the  moment  we  are  not  discussing  the  ulti- 
mate issue.  It  is  true  that  a  man  may  repent, 
and  yet  go  back  upon  his  repentance.  But 
repentance  itself  is  in  this  sense  the  gift  of 
Christ.  It  comes  by  the  way  of  His  illumina- 
tion. It  is  generated  by  the  flashing  of  the  light 
of  His  life  upon  the  life  of  a  man.  It  is  the 
changed  mind  in  regard  to  God,  and  with  regard 


THE  WITNESSES  97 

to  sin.  The  Church's  responsibility  is  that  of 
bearing  such  witness  to  the  purity  of  Christ,  and 
the  glory  of  that  purity,  as  to  produce  such  a  re- 
pentance in  the  lives  of  sinning  men.  AVlierever 
that  repentance  is  yielded  to,  there  immediately 
follows  the  remission  of  sins.  That  is  infinitely 
more  than  forgiveness.  It  is  that  of  the  loosing 
of  the  soul  from  sin,  the  breaking  of  the  chain, 
the  quenching  of  the  fire,  the  negation  of  the 
poison.  It  is  the  act  of  God.  He  is  able  to 
remit  sins,  because  of  the  death  and  resurrection 
of  Christ.  These  are  the  foundations  upon  which, 
and  upon  which  alone.  He  remits  sins.  The 
Church's  responsibility  is  that  of  witnessing  to 
the  fact  of  remission  by  lives  in  which  sin  has 
lost  its  power. 

We  are  therefore  witnesses  to  the  world  of  the 
fact  of  the  fulfillment  of  the  initial  economy  in 
Christ ;  of  the  way  by  which  He  fulfilled  that 
economy  through  His  own  death  and  resurrec- 
tion ;  and  of  the  results  issuing  from  such  fulfill- 
ment, repentance  in  man,  and  remission  of  sins 
as  the  act  of  God. 

An  experimental  illustration  of  that  contex- 
tual interpretation  is  found  in  one  of  the  most 
fascinating  pictures  in  the  book  of  the  Acts  of 


98       l^HE  MISSIONAEY  MANIFESTO 

the  Apostles.  Peter  and  the  apostles  had  been 
arrested,  and  stood  before  the  Sadducean  high 
priest,  and  those  associated  with  him ;  charged 
with  having  filled  Jerusalem  with  their  teaching, 
and  with  intending  to  bring  the  blood  of  Jesus 
upon  these  men.  Peter  replied  in  words  charac- 
terized by  directness  and  finality,  ^^We  must 
obey  God  rather  than  men.'^  Then  in  a  few 
sentences  he  stated  the  whole  burden  of  the  apos- 
tolic message,  ^'  The  God  of  our  fathers  raised  up 
Jesus,  Whom  ye  slew,  hanging  Him  on  a  tree. 
Him  did  God  exalt  with  His  right  hand  to  be  a 
Prince  and  a  Saviour,  for  to  give  repentance  to 
Israel,  and  remission  of  sins.' ^ 

This  statement  was  immediately  followed  by 
the  significant  claim,  ^ '  And  we  are  witnesses  of 
these  things. '^  The  relation  of  the  commission 
to  this  incident  of  obedience  is  patent.  Jesus 
had  said,  *'Ye  are  witnesses  of  these  things." 
Peter  affirmed,  ^'We  are  witnesses  of  these 
things. '^  According  to  Jesus  "these  things'' 
were  those  of  His  fulfillment  of  the  initial  econ- 
omy, of  His  death  and  resurrection,  of  His  ability 
to  bestow  repentance  and  remission  of  sins  upon 
man.  According  to  Peter  "these  things"  in- 
cluded the  recognition  of  the  relation  of  the 


THE  WITNESSES  99 

mission  of  Jesus  to  the  ancient  economy,  for  he 
spoke  of  '• '  the  God  of  our  fathers  "  ;  of  the  death 
and  resurrection  of  Jesus,  for  he  declared  ' '  God 
raised  up  Jesus,  Whom  ye  slew"  ;  of  the  result 
of  the  exaltation  of  Jesus,  for  he  affirmed  ^'  Him 
did  God  exalt  with  His  right  hand  to  be  a  Prince 
and  a  Saviour,  for  to  give  repentance  to  Israel, 
and  remission  of  sins.^' 

What,  then,  is  the  debt  resulting  from  the  pos- 
session of  the  deposit  ?  The  inquiry  is  answered 
as  we  understand  the  meaning  of  the  word  * '  wit- 
nesses.'^ The  term  suggests  three  ideas,  which 
may  be  indicated  by  the  words  *^  realization," 
"manifestation,"  and  "proclamation."  A  wit- 
ness is  one  who  has  realized  the  ideals  of  Jesus 
by  appropriation  of  His  grace.  He  is  one,  there- 
fore, through  whom  the  perfection  of  the  ideals 
and  the  power  of  grace  are  manifested  to  the 
world.  He  is,  moreover,  one  who  is  called  upon 
to  proclaim  to  men  that  evangel  which  discovers 
to  them  the  secret  of  how  he  has  realized  that 
which  he  manifests.  This  is  the  thought  of  wit- 
nessing as  interpreted  by  all  the  writings  of  the 
New  Testament. 

In  order  to  witness  bearing  there  must  first  be 
realization.     It  is  necessary,  moreover,  that  we 


100     THE  MISSIONAEY  MANIFESTO 

understand  that  realization  means  making  real 
in  experience,  which  is  infinitely  more  than  ap- 
prehending intellectually.  No  man  or  woman 
or  child  can  witness  for  Christ  who  has  not  real- 
ized ^'  these  things  ^'  in  personal  experience.  In 
a  previous  study  we  summarized  the  ideals  of 
Jesus  as  those  of  the  supremacy  of  the  spiritual, 
and  the  inwardness  of  morality.  To  witness 
for  Christ,  then,  is  to  live  the  life  which  at  all 
times  and  under  all  circumstances  recognizes  the 
supremacy  of  the  spiritual ;  which  constantly 
recognizes  that  the  material  is  none  other  than 
the  carbon  upon  which  the  essential  light  of  the 
spiritual  is  revealed.  A  witness  also  is  one  who 
makes  no  boast  in  the  accidentals  of  an  external 
morality,  but  who  is  pure  in  heart.  He  is,  more- 
over, one  to  whom  there  has  come  the  vision  of 
the  glory  of  the  ultimate  establishment  of  the 
Kingdom  of  God,  and  for  whom  the  realization 
of  that  vision  becomes  the  master-passion  and 
purpose  of  life. 

Or  we  may  state  this  truth  concerning  the 
realization  in  the  terms  of  the  contextual  inter- 
pretation, which  we  have  considered.  A  witness 
is  one  in  whom  the  ideals  of  the  past  are  fulfilled 
by  the  power  of  Christ ;  one  in  whom  the  Cross 


THE  WITNESSES  101 

and  the  resurrection  accomplish  their  respective 
missions  ;  one  who  experiences  the  abiding  con- 
sciousness of  repentance,  with  the  constant 
triumph  of  the  remission  of  sins. 

Wherever  this  realization  is  found,  manifesta- 
tion ensues.  The  whole  fact  may  be  briefly 
stated  by  the  declaration  that  witnesses  are  those 
who  at  all  times,  and  in  all  places,  and  under  all 
circumstances,  reveal  Christ.  It  is  impossible  to 
make  this  statement  without  a  consciousness  of 
shame  filling  the  spirit.  Here  we  have  so 
grievously  failed.  Let  us  speak,  therefore,  only 
in  the  language  which  is  possible  to  us,  as  we 
affirm  that  the  measure  in  which  we  are  witnesses 
for  Christ  is  the  measure  in  which  we  manifest 
Him,  as  the  result  of  experimental  realization. 
If  manifestation  fail,  it  is  because  realization  has 
failed. 

Following  realization  and  manifestation,  there 
must  be  proclamation.  The  witnesses  must  tell 
the  secret  of  how  their  own  lives  have  been  trans- 
formed. There  is  certainly  need  for  a  new 
emphasis  of  this  last  phase  of  responsibility.  It 
is  perfectly  true  that  proclamation  apart  from 
manifestation  is  of  no  value,  and  that  the  testi- 
mony of  life  is  the  most  powerful  in  fulfillment  of 


102     THE  MISSIONAEY  MANIFESTO 

responsibility.  It  is  equally  true,  however,  that 
so  surely  as  there  is  manifestation  there  will  be 
inquiry.  Seeing  the  glory  of  Christ,  and  the 
revelation  of  His  power  in  the  lives  of  men, 
others  will  desire  to  know  the  secrets  of  realiza- 
tion. The  witness  must  be  ready  to  answer  all 
such  inquiry.  The  symbol  of  the  Church's  serv- 
ice is  the  tongue  of  fire.  The  tongue  apart  from 
the  fire  is  useless,  but  the  fire  demands  the  tongue 
in  order  that  it  may  give  expression  to  the  laws 
which  govern  its  purifying  and  energizing  force. 
If  in  the  lives  of  His  people  Christ  is  victorious, 
and  through  them  is  manifest,  then  they  must  be 
ready  to  speak  to  those  in  their  own  home,  to 
those  they  meet  in  social  life,  to  those  with  whom 
they  come  in  contact  in  all  the  ways  of  life,  of 
Him  Who  has  given  them  repentance  and  re- 
mission of  sins,  declaring  that  their  deliverance 
has  come  by  His  Cross,  and  their  realization  by 
His  resurrection.  For  this  testimony  the  world 
is  waiting,  and  the  Church  is  responsible  to  her 
Lord,  and  in  debt  to  the  whole  race  to  realize,  to 
manifest,  to  proclaim  ^Hhese  things.'' 

Such  a  responsibility  must  produce  a  sense  of 
almost  overwhelming  shame  in  the  presence  of 
past  failure,  and  of  equally  overwhelming  fear 


THE  WITNESSES  103 

in  the  consciousness  of  present  inability.  If 
there  were  no  word  in  this  phase  of  the  com- 
mission clearly  indicating  the  power  in  which  it 
is  possible  to  obey,  we  hardly  dare  venture  upon 
the  pathway  of  obedience.  The  first  two  phases 
of  the  commission  with  which  we  have  dealt  seem 
to  be  much  easier  to  obey  than  this.  To  pro- 
claim His  royalty  ;  even  to  go  into  the  presence 
of  all  the  suffering  of  creation  in  order  to  an- 
nounce His  evangel ;  these  things  may  indeed  be 
conceived  of,  and  we  might  even  venture  to  at- 
tempt them.  But  when  we  hear  this  declaration, 
which  makes  it  patent  that  neither  the  one  nor 
the  other  can  be  done  save  as  in  our  own  lives, 
we  realize,  and  through  them  manifest  the  Christ 
Himself,  we  are  brought  face  to  face  with  the 
supreme  consciousness  of  our  need  of  ^' power 
from  on  high'^  ;  and  that  is  exactly  what  He 
promises.  Let  us  hear  His  actual  words,  '^  Be- 
hold, I  send  forth  the  promise  of  My  Father  upon 
you  :  but  tarry  ye  in  the  city,  until  ye  be  clothed 
with  power  from  on  high.''  Thus  as  He  reveals 
the  deposit,  and  declares  the  debt.  He  promises 
the  dynamic.  It  is  only  in  the  power  of  the  full- 
ness of  the  Holy  Spirit  that  it  is  possible  to 
realize  the  deposit  or  discharge  the  debt.    In 


104     THE  MISSIOIsTAEY  MANIFESTO 

that  power  both  are  possible.  To  be  possessed 
by  the  Spirit  is  to  have  found  the  secret  of 
realization,  and  consequently  to  possess  the 
power  of  manifestation.  We  shall  never  realize 
the  things  of  Christ  by  contemplation  or  by  imi- 
tation. These  can  only  be  realized  as  we  share 
His  life,  and  that  life  can  only  be  shared  by  the 
indwelling  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

It  is  through  such  realization  by  the  indwell- 
ing Spirit  that  manifestation  becomes  possible. 
Every  victory  which  the  Spirit  wins  for  Christ 
in  the  believer,  is  a  victory  won  for  Christ 
through  the  believer. 

It  is  equally  true  that  the  secret  of  persuasive 
proclamation  is  neither  human  eloquence  nor 
human  argument.  To  refer  again  to  the  ex- 
perimental illustration  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apos- 
tles, Peter  not  only  said,  ''we  are  witnesses  of 
these  things,''  he  added,  ''and  so  also  is  the 
Holy  Ghost,  Whom  God  hath  given  to  them 
that  obey  Him."  In  the  power  of  that  Spirit 
we  realize,  we  manifest,  we  proclaim,  the 
Christ. 

;  The  final  word,  therefore,  was  necessarily  that 
which  the  Lord  uttered,  ' '  Tarry  ye  .  .  .  until 
ye  be  clothed  with  power  from  on  high."     The 


THE  WITNESSES  105 

principle  of  that  injunction  has  abiding  applica- 
tion, but  the  application  is  changed.  The  abi- 
ding principle  is  the  recognition  of  the  fact  that 
witnessing  is  impossible,  save  in  the  power  of  the 
Holy  Spirit.  Human  judgment  and  human  en- 
ergy are  alike  insufficient.  We  may  plan  our 
work,  and  even  work  our  plan,  and  yet  no  vic- 
tories be  won.  We  may  arrange  our  boards  and 
our  committees,  and  conduct  our  campaigns,  and 
yet  not  discharge  our  debt.  Until  the  breath  of 
God  pass  over  the  valley,  all  these  things  are  but 
dry  bones.  For  all  missionary  endeavour, 
whether  in  the  home-land  or  in  the  distant  places 
of  the  world,  the  supreme  necessity  is  that  of  the 
power  of  the  Spirit,  and  save  as  that  power  is 
bestowed  it  is  infinitely  better  than  nothing 
should  be  attempted. 

But  if  the  principle  abides,  the  application  is 
changed.  The  tarrying  of  the  apostles  was  neces- 
sary. For  fifty  days  between  the  resurrection 
and  Pentecost  they  waited.  For  the  last  ten  days 
they  waited  in  absolute  inability  to  witness. 
Their  Lord  had  ascended,  and  the  Spirit  had  not 
yet  been  given.  There  was  no  blame  attached 
to  them  for  tarrying.  The  only  mistake  they 
made,  if  indeed  they  made  any,  was  that  they 


106     THE  MISSIONAEY  MANIFESTO 

attempted  to  fill  the  vacancy  in  their  own  num- 
ber, before  the  coming  of  the  Spirit. 

Their  tarrying  was  necessary,  but  our  tarrying 
is  unnecessary,  because  the  power  is  immediately 
available.  *^  Tarry  ,  .  .  until  ye  be  clothed 
with  power  from  on  high.'^  Do  not  touch  the 
work  of  God  save  in  the  fullness  of  the  Spirit. 
But  why  do  we  lack  the  fullness  of  the  Spirit  ? 
After  ten  days  of  waiting  the  day  of  Pentecost 
came,  and  with  it  the  Holy  Spirit.  That  Spirit 
has  never  been  withdrawn,  and  so  far  as  we  may 
refer  to  His  presence  in  the  terms  of  time  or 
space,  we  affirm  that  any  building  in  which  the 
saints  of  God  assemble  to-day  is  as  full  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  as  was  the  upper  room  on  the  day  of 
Pentecost. 

K  we  are  not  filled  with  the  Spirit,  the  blame 
is  on  us.  If  there  be  malice  in  the  heart,  rebellion 
in  the  life,  impurity  in  the  thinking  ;  if  there  be 
willful  persistence  in  disobedience,  then  let  us 
tarry,  let  us  resign  all  our  offices,  and  in  the  in- 
terests of  the  Kingdom  of  God,  stand  outside  the 
Church's  fellowship. 

But  let  us  clearly  understand  that  we  must  not 
compare  our  tarryings  with  that  of  the  apostles, 
and  by  so  doing  put  the  blame  of  our  incompetence 


THE  WITNESSES  107 

upon  God.  We  live  in  the  age  of  the  Spirit. 
The  laws  of  His  operation  are  fully  known,  and 
the  ^' power  from  on  high"  is  immediately  at  tha 
disposal  of  all  such  as  are  obedient  to  those  laws. 
To  wait  for  the  sound  of  a  rushing,  mighty  wind, 
for  the  sight  of  visible  tongues  of  fire,  for  ability 
in  ecstatic  mood  to  utter  speech  that  needs  inter- 
pretation, is  to  forget  that  these  are  not  the  only, 
or  the  final,  or  the  highest  signs  of  the  presence 
and  power  of  the  Spirit.  Indeed,  these  were  the 
simpler  signs  of  a  dawning  age,  and  they  passed 
as  men  came  to  fuller  realization  of  the  full  mean- 
ing of  the  spiritual  equipment. 

Our  responsibility,  therefore,  in  this  particular 
is  that  we  make  no  attempt  to  witness  save  in  the 
power  of  the  Spirit ;  and  that  we  immediately, 
and  at  whatever  cost,  ceavse  to  resist,  or  grieve, 
or  quench  the  Spirit ;  and  by  absolute  abandon- 
ment of  ourselves  to  the  Lord,  avail  ourselves  of 
the  power  placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  Church 
on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  and  never  withdrawn. 


THE  COMMISSION  ACCORDING 
TO  JOHN 


"  As  the  Father  hath  sent  Me,  even  so  send  I  you* 
And  when  He  had  said  this  He  breathed  on  them,  and 
saith  unto  them.  Receive  ye  the  Holy  Ghost :  whose- 
soever sins  ye  forgive,  they  are  forgiven  unto  them: 
whosesoever  sins  ye  retain,  they  are  retained.''* — 
John  20  :  21-23. 


THE  EEMISSION  OF  SINS 

JOHN'S  account  of  the  first  day  in  the  resur- 
rection life  of  Jesus  is  that  of  an  eye-wit- 
ness. As  we  have  seen  in  our  earlier  con- 
sideration, the  commission  which  Matthew  records 
was  not  uttered  until  nearly  the  end  of  the  forty 
days.  The  story  which  Mark  tells  us  is,  in  all 
probability,  an  account  of  what  he  had  heard 
from  Peter.  Luke,  in  the  preface  to  his  Gospel, 
distinctly  informs  us  that  his  writing  consisted  of 
the  setting  in  order  of  facts  which  he  had  gath- 
ered together  from  the  testimony  of  eye-witnesses. 
In  this  Gospel  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  we  have 
the  account  of  one  who  was  certainly  present,  and 
of  one,  moreover,  who  during  the  life  of  Jesus  had 
entered  into  a  most  close  and  familiar  friend- 
ship with  the  Lord. 

His  message  concerning  his  Master  was  pre- 
eminently that  of  Jesus  as  the  One  through 
Whose  mission  God  is  manifest.  The  prologue 
of  his  Gospel  ends  with  the  declaration,  ^'No 
man  hath  seen  God  at  any  time  j  the  only-begot- 
111 


112     THE  MISSIOKAEY  MANIFESTO 

ten  Son  Which  is  in  the  bosom  of  the  Father, 
He  hath  declared  Him."  That  is  the  key- word 
to  the  whole  Gospel ;  and  the  words  of  Jesus,  ut- 
tered on  the  first  day  of  resurrection  to  the  dis- 
ciples gathered  in  the  upper  room,  which 
supremely  impressed  John,  were  those  which 
harmonized  most  perfectly  with  his  consistent 
presentation  of  Jesus  as  the  Word  of  God,  the 
Manifester  of  the  Father,  the  Son  of  God. 

He  tells  how,  when  Jesus  presenced  Himself 
among  the  disciples.  He  greeted  them  by  saying, 
^' Peace  be  unto  you,"  and  in  that  greeting 
sought  to  allay  their  fears,  as  He  accompanied 
the  words  with  the  demonstration  of  His  identity 
with  the  One  Whom  they  had  known  and 
loved  so  well,  by  showing  them  His  hands  and 
His  side. 

Having  done  this.  He  again  uttered  the  same 
words,  "  Peace  be  unto  you,"  but  this  time  in 
view  of  the  service  to  which  He  was  about  to 
appoint  them. 

On  that  first  resurrection  day  the  disciples 
were  subjects  of  conflicting  emotion.  One  of  the 
evangelists  describes  them  as  having  been  filled 
with  fear  and  great  joy.  Troubled,  hopeful, 
amazed,  it  must  have  been  difficult  for  them  to 


THE  EEMISSION  OF  SINS  113 

believe  in  the  reality  of  the  things  that  were 
passing  around  them.  Therefore  the  Lord,  be- 
fore uttering  the  words  of  His  great  commission, 
sought  to  bring  them  to  clear  consciousness  of 
the  fiict  of  His  resurrection.  Then,  to  these  men 
thus  assured,  He  gave  a  charge  which  John 
records  in  the  words  which  we  are  now  to  con- 
sider. 

It  may  be  that  these  were  the  first  words  of  the 
commission,  that  the  things  recorded  by  Mark 
and  Luke  were  said  subsequently  ;  or  it  may  be 
that  between  His  first  greeting  of  peace  and  the 
last  the  other  things  were  said,  John  recording 
only  the  words  necessary  to  his  purpose. 
Whether  first  or  last  in  order  of  utterance,  it 
will  at  once  be  agreed  that  this  phase  of  the  com- 
mission touches  a  profound  note,  and  therefore 
demands  careful  attention.  So  suggestive  and 
yet  so  mystical  are  these  words  of  Jesus,  that 
around  them  controversy  has  waged  in  the  Chris- 
tian Church  for  centuries,  and  there  has  grown 
up  a  whole  ecclesiastical  system  which  gathers  its 
constant  power  over  men  from  an  interpretation 
of  these  words,  upon  which  it  bases  its  claims. 
It  is  not  for  us  in  the  present  study  to  discuss 
that  system.     I  'simply  refer  to  it  in  passing  in 


114     THE  MISSIONARY  MANIFESTO 

order  to  draw  attention  to  the  fact  that  whatever 
these  words  may  mean,  they  were  spoken  not  to 
the  apostles  alone,  but  to  the  whole  company  of 
believers  gathered  together  in  the  upper  room. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  in  these  words  we  have 
one  phase  of  the  charge  of  the  risen  Lord  to  His 
disciples  as  to  their  responsibility  concerning  the 
world  J  and  in  them  we  find  a  new  note,  a  differ- 
ent emphasis,  a  fresh  phase  of  suggestion.  We 
have  heard  Him  command  us  to  proclaim  Him 
King.  We  have  heard  Him  call  us  to  go  into 
the  midst  of  suffering  creation  in  order  to  heal 
it.  We  have  heard  Him  declare  that  we  are  to 
be  His  witnesses,  His  revelations.  Now  we  hear 
Him  charge  us  that  we  are  to  go  to  the  world  em- 
powered to  forgive  or  to  retain  sins. 

The  command  in  its  simplicity,  as  it  would  ap- 
pear to  one  who  had  never  heard  it  expounded, 
or  who  had  no  prejudice  concerning  it,  is  a  most 
startling  one,  demanding  most  earnest  attention. 

We  shall  again  follow  the  same  method  of  con- 
sideration as  in  our  former  studies,  inquiring 
what  is  the  deposit  committed  to  the  Church  ; 
what,  therefore,  is  the  debt  which  the  Church 
owes  her  Lord  and  the  world  in  the  presence  of 
the  deposit ;  and  finally,  what  is  the  dynamic  by 


THE  EEMISSION  OF  SINS  115 

which  she  is  equipped  for  the  discharge  of  her 
debt?  These  three  divisions  are  most  clearly 
manifest,  although  they  do  not  follow  that  order. 

Let  us  first,  then,  note  them  as  they  occur. 
The  Church's  debt  is  indicated  in  the  first  words 
of  the  passage,  ^' As  the  Father  hath  sent  Me, 
even  so  send  I  you."  The  dynamic  in  which  she 
is  able  to  fulfill  her  mission  is  revealed  in  the 
words  of  Jesus,  "Eeceive  ye  the  Holy  Ghost." 
The  deposit  committed  to  her  is  revealed  in  the 
final  words,  '^Whosesoever  sins  ye  forgive,  they 
are  forgiven  unto  them  ;  whosesoever  sins  ye  re- 
tain, they  are  retained."  Following  the  order  of 
previous  considerations,  we  will  first  consider 
that  deposit. 

Before  considering  the  authority  vested  in  the 
disciples,  as  indicated  in  these  words,  let  us 
notice  the  suggested  alternative  :  sins  forgiven, 
sins  unforgiven.  The  Authorized  Version  reads 
here,  ''Whosesoever  sins  ye  remit,  they  are  re- 
mitted unto  them ;  and  whosesoever  sins  ye  re- 
tain, they  are  retained."  In  this  instance  I  pre- 
fer the  Authorized  translation,  for  the  simple 
reason  that  for  English  readers  the  two  words, 
remit  and  retain^  stand  more  evidently  and  clearly 
in  antithesis. 


116      THE  IVnSSIONAEY  MANIFESTO 

The  word  translated  '^  forgive  "  has  as  its  root 
and  essential  meaning  exactly  what  is  indicated 
in  the  word  ^^  remit.''  Forgiveness  is  not  the 
passing  over  of  wrong  done,  with  the  under- 
standing that  it  is  never  to  be  mentioned.  That 
is  not  the  New  Testament  idea  of  forgiveness. 
The  root  idea  of  the  word  must  be  borne  in  mind. 
It  is  that  of  setting  free  from,  creating  liberty 
with  regard  to.  If  my  sins  are  forgiven,  I  am 
set  free  from  them,  and  from  all  the  consequences 
following  upon  them.  Forgiveness  of  sins  is  not 
merely  the  decision  of  God  that  He  will  not 
punish  man  for  them.  The  remission  of  penalty 
is  an  effect  resulting  from  a  cause,  and  the  cause 
is  the  remission  of  the  sin.  Forgiveness  means 
that  the  sinner  is  set  free  from  sins  as  to  their 
guilt,  their  power,  their  presence. 

It  may  be  immediately  objected  that  such  defi- 
nition includes  in  forgiveness  the  experience  of 
sanctification  ;  and  this  is  perfectly  true.  Sancti- 
fication  is  potentially  included  in  justification  j 
and  the  forgiveness  of  sins  in  the  economy  of 
God  includes  the  setting  free  of  the  sinner  from 
the  sins  themselves,  and  therefore  from  their  con- 
sequences of  every  description. 

The  forgiveness  of  sins  always  results  in  two 


THE  REIVIISSION  OF  SIXS  117 

things :  first  iu  a  new  vision  of  God ;  and  sec- 
ondly, and  consequently,  in  a  new  motive  of  life. 
Tliat  fact  is  demonstrated  by  the  experience  of 
the  saints  as  revealed  in  the  New  Testament,  and 
as  revealed  in  all  subsequent  history.  In  that 
moment  in  which  the  soul  comes  to  the  conscious- 
ness that  sins  are  forgiven,  there  dawns  upon  it 
a  conception  of  God  which  is  entirely  new.  The 
word  of  Isaiah  is  of  perpetual  application : 
*^Your  iniquities  have  separated  between  you 
and  your  God,  and  your  sins  have  hid  His  face 
from  you."  In  the  moment  in  which  a  man  is 
set  free  from  his  sins  this  separation  ends,  and 
the  face  of  God  is  seen. 

That  new  vision,  following  upon  the  conscious- 
ness of  sin  forgiven,  becomes  the  new  motive  of 
life,  the  secret  of  holiness,  the  impulse  of  com- 
passion, the  reason  of  activity.  The  new  vision 
is  that  of  God  as  love  j  which,  producing  love  to 
God,  makes  love  forevermore  the  motive  of  life. 

The  forgiveness  of  sins  is  the  fundamental  note 
in  the  evangel  which  the  Church  proclaims  to 
the  world  in  the  name  of  the  crucified  and  risen 
Christ.  No  other  form  of  religion  offers  it  to 
man.  As  we  have  constantly  affirmed,  there  is  a 
measure  of  light  in  every  form  of  religion,  from 


118     THE  MISSIONARY  MANIFESTO 

that  of  the  fetish  worship  of  the  savage  to  that  of 
the  teaching  of  Buddha  j  but  no  religion  ap- 
proaches man  with  the  declaration  that  seeing  he 
is  unable  to  walk  in  the  light,  it  brings  to  him  a 
forgiveness  of  sins  which  means  moral  recon- 
struction ;  so  that  from  henceforth  he  may  walk 
therein,  in  the  strength  and  beauty  of  holiness. 
The  risen  Lord  declared  to  His  disciples  that  He 
sent  them  to  the  world,  empowered  to  forgive  sins. 

This  includes,  however,  that  which  is  its  oppo- 
site, namely,  the  retention  of  sins.  If  forgive- 
ness means  freedom  from  sins,  retention  means 
slavery  to  sin.  The  man  whose  sins  are  retained 
is  not  loosed  from  them,  but  bound  by  them. 
Such  a  man  has  no  vision  of  God,  and  therefore 
his  motive  of  life  is  a  false  motive,  and  conse- 
quently all  his  life  is  a  false  life. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  in  one  of  these  two  condi- 
tions all  men  who  have  heard  the  Evangel  are 
living  at  this  moment.  There  are  those  whose 
sins  are  remitted,  and  those  whose  sins  are  re- 
tained. Or,  to  state  the  antithesis  in  the  terms 
of  result,  there  are  men  and  women  who  have 
seen  God  so  as  to  love  Him  and  so  as  to  serve 
Him ;  and  men  and  women  who,  lacking  the 
vision  of  God,  are  afraid  of  Him,  and  are  at 


THE  KEMISSION  OF  SINS  119 

enmity  agaiDst  Him.  Or,  once  again  to  state  the 
division  in  terms  of  the  final  issue,  there  are  men 
and  women  whose  motive  in  life  is  to  do  the  will 
of  God,  and  men  and  women  whose  motive  is  to 
please  themselves. 

According  to  this  charge  of  Christ,  His  disci- 
ples are  sent  with  a  message,  by  which  there  is 
created  for  men  a  crisis  of  choice ;  and  when 
men  make  their  choice,  as  they  are  compelled  to 
do  who  hear  the  Word,  the  disciples,  with  their 
Lord's  authority,  which  is  the  authority  of 
heaven  and  eternity  and  of  final  destiny,  pro- 
nounce the  verdict  of  sins  remitted,  or  of  sins 
retained,  according  to  the  choice  which  men 
make. 

In  the  proclamation  of  the  Kingship  and  Sa- 
viourhood  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  men  are  in- 
evitably brought  to  a  crisis.  The  question  of 
Pilate  is  the  question  of  every  man  who  confronts 
Christ,  ''What  then  shall  I  do  with  Jesus?'' 
One  man  answers,  repenting  :  I  trust  Him.  To 
that  man  the  commissioned  disciple  declares : 
Thy  sins,  which  are  many,  are  remitted.  An- 
other man  replies  :  Crucify  Him.  To  that  man 
the  message  of  the  commissioned  disciple  is  : 
Thy  sins  are  retained. 


120      THE  MISSIONAEY  MAKIFESTO 

This  is  our  fundamental  message.  We  are  not 
sent  to  men  to  discuss  with  them  the  relative 
values  of  their  religions.  In  our  going  to  them 
we  must  respect  the  light  which  they  already 
possess,  and  attempt  to  lead  them  towards  the 
fuller  light  J  but  our  supreme  business  is  to 
preach  Christ  crucified  and  risen,  thereby  to 
compel  men  to  stand  in  the  presence  of  His 
Saviourhood,  and  make  their  choice ;  and  upon 
the  basis  of  that  choice  we  are  charged  to  remit 
or  retain  sins,  according  to  whether  they  crown 
or  crucify  Him. 

Ere  we  leave  this  statement  of  the  deposit  it  is 
necessary  that  we  should  recognize  the  condi- 
tions which  are  involved  in  our  Lord's  method  of 
stating  it.  For  the  purpose  of  our  study  we 
have  commenced  at  the  end  of  the  passage,  but 
we  cannot  commence  there  in  our  service.  Let 
us  emphasize  the  sequence  revealed  by  tabulation 
of  the  threefold  declaration  : — 
*^As  the  Father  hath  sent  Me,  even  so  send  I 

you.'' 
^'Eeceive  ye  the  Holy  Ghost." 
^'Whosesoever  sins  ye  forgive,  they  are  forgiven 

unto  them  ;  whosesoever  sins  ye  retain,  they 

are  retained." 


THE  EEMISSION  OF  SINS  121 

If  we  attempt  to  remit  or  retain  sins  save  in  that 
line  of  succession,  we  are  guilty  of  the  worst 
blasphemy  possible. 

The  whole  movement  begins  with  God  :  '^  As 
the  Father  hath  sent  Me."  It  proceeds  through 
the  Son ;  the  Son  is  the  Sent  of  the  Father.  It 
is  carried  forward  by  the  ministry  of  the  Spirit : 
'^Eeceive  ye  the  Holy  Ghost. '^  It  is  accom- 
plished through  the  instrumentality  of  men  and 
women  indwelt  by  the  Spirit,  given  by  the  Son, 
received  from  the  Father. 

The  final  authority  for  forgiving  sins  does  not 
rest  with  men  or  women,  but  with  God  j  and  He 
exercises  His  authority  through  the  mediation  of 
the  Son,  and  the  administration  of  the  Spirit, 
through  the  members  of  the  Church.  Only  thus 
can  we  forgive  or  retain  sin.  Words  of  abso- 
lution are  utterly  useless  save  as  they  are  spoken 
in  the  power  of  the  indwelling  Spirit,  in  fellow- 
ship with  the  crucified  and  crowned  Christ,  and 
under  the  authority  of  the  living  God.  Words 
of  absolution  or  sentence  of  retention  can  only 
be  uttered  ;  therefore,  upon  the  fulfillment  of  the 
conditions  declared  by  Christ  Himself. 
V  Thus  in  the  upper  room,  on  the  first  day  of 
resurrection,  suggestively  and  prophetically  our 


122      THE  MISSIONAEY  MANIFESTO 

Lord  recognized  the  union  of  His  disciples  with 
Himself,  and  therefore  with  the  Father  j  and 
upon  the  basis  of  that  union  He  sent  them  forth 
to  the  exercise  of  this  high  and  awful  preroga- 
tive. 

This  is  the  fundamental  note  in  the  commis- 
sion of  the  Christian  Church.  Whether  it  be  in 
England,  in  China,  or  in  India  j  in  city  or  vil- 
lage or  hamlet ;  to  bond  or  free,  to  rich  or  poor, 
to  learned  or  illiterate ;  we  take  to  men  a  Saviour 
in  Whose  presence  they  make  a  choice  which  re- 
sults either  in  the  remission  or  retention  of  their 
sins ;  and  we  are  authorized  to  remit  or  retain 
according  to  what  their  choice  shall  be. 

From  this  consideration  we  pass  necessarily 
and  naturally  to  a  consideration  of  our  debt,  as 
indicated  in  the  words  of  the  Lord:  ^'As  the 
Father  has  sent  Me,  even  so  send  I  you.^^ 

It  is  evident  that  the  key  to  the  interpretation 
of  these  words  is  found  in  the  two  words  which 
suggest  the  comparison,  ^^  As  .  .  .  so."  To 
see  and  understand  the  work  of  the  Son  as  the 
Sent  of  the  Father  is  to  see  and  understand  the 
debt  we  owe  to  the  world,  as  those  sent  by  the  Son. 
Our  first  inquiry,  then,  must  be  as  to  the  purpose 
of  His  sending  ;  and,  in  order  to  a  satisfactory 


THE  KEMISSION  OF  SINS  123 

answer  to  the  inquiry,  the  whole  Gospel  of  John 
is  needed.  All  that  it  contains,  however,  for  pur- 
poses of  the  present  study,  may  be  suggested  by 
the  use  of  two  simple  words ;  the  Father  sent  the 
Son  for  Manifestation  and  for  Cooperation.  The 
whole  truth  is  contained  potentially  in  that  mas- 
ter-declaration at  the  close  of  the  prologue  to 
which  we  have  already  referred  ;  "  No  man  hath 
seen  God  at  any  time :  the  only-begotten  Son, 
Which  is  in  the  bosom  of  the  Father,  He  hath 
declai'ed  Him.'^  His  declaration  of  the  Father 
consisted  in  Manifestation  and  Cooperation. 

When  at  the  close  of  His  ministry  the  Lord 
gave  His  disciples  final  instruction  in  what  we 
speak  of  as  the  Paschal  discourses,  Philip  sud- 
denly exclaimed  :  *^  Show  us  the  Father,  and  it 
sufi&ceth  us.'^  In  those  words  essential  humanity 
uttered  its  deepest  need.  All  the  unrest  of  to-day, 
east  and  west,  north  and  south,  is  but  the  expres- 
sion^of  the  same  need.  To  that  cry  Christ  an- 
swered, ''He  that  hath 'seen  Me  hath  seen  the 
Father."  He  was  sent  of  the  Father  that  men 
through  Him  might  see  the  Father.  John,  His 
familiar  friend,  the  one  who  perhaps  more  in- 
tently than  any  of  the  other  disciples,  had  gazed 
upon  Him,  and  more  often  than  any  other,  had 


124     THE  MISSIO]N'AEY  MANIFESTO 

handled  Him,  declared  :  ^^We  beheld  His  glory 
— glory  as  of  the  only-begotten  from  the  Father, 
full  of  grace  and  truth.  ^^  These  are  comprehen- 
sive, inclusive,  exhaustive  words.  The  Father 
sent  the  Son  for  manifestation.  He  came,  and  in 
Him  men  saw  Grace  and  Truth. 

It  is  most  important  that  in  the  recitation  of 
the  passage,  ^'The  law  was  given  by  Moses; 
grace  and  truth  came  by  Jesus  Christ, '^  we 
should  not  employ  an  emphasis  which  denies  its 
essential  meaning.  We  are  in  the  habit  of  read- 
ing the  declaration  as  though  the  law  that  came 
by  Moses  was  characterized  by  severity  only, 
while  the  grace  and  truth  that  came  by  Jesus 
Christ  were  characterized  by  tenderness  only. 
Asa  matter  of  fact,  the  law  of  Moses  was  the  ex- 
pression of  love,  and  it  must  not  be  forgotten 
that  truth  is  a  more  awful  word  than  law.  Law 
is  but  the  expression  of  truth  in  certain  applica- 
tions to  individual  needs.  Truth  is  essential, 
eternal,  unswerving,  unbending.  Not  grace 
only,  but  truth  also  came  by  Christ.  These  were 
the  supreme  facts  in  the  manifestation,  for  which 
the  Son  of  God  was  sent. 

He  came  not  for  manifestation  only,  but  also 
for  cooperation.     And  here  again  we  may  take 


THE  EEMISSION  OF  SINS  125 

one  illustration  from,  the  Gospel  of  John,  this 
time  from  the  beginning  of  His  ministry  rather 
than  from  the  close.  After  He  had  healed  the 
man  in  the  Bethesda  porches,  in  answer  to  the 
criticism  of  those  who  objected  to  His  healing  on 
the  Sabbath,  He  said  :  ' '  My  Father  worketh 
even  until  now,  and  I  work.^^  The  importance 
of  that  declaration  maybe  gathered  from  the  fact 
that  on  the  human  side  that  claim  cost  Christ  His 
life.  From  the  moment  of  its  utterance  His 
enemies  sought  opportunity  to  kill  Him  ;  and  if 
John's  grouping  of  facts  be  carefully  studied,  it 
will  be  discovered  that  the  claim  which  He  then 
made  was  that  to  which  His  enemies  most  pro- 
foundly objected,  and  for  which  at  last  they 
crucified  Him. 

It  was  indeed  a  great  word :  *^  My  Father 
worketh  even  until  now,  and  I  work.''  I  think 
its  simplest  and  sublimest  interpretation  is  dis- 
covered by  turning  from  all  speculation,  and  con- 
sidering it  in  the  light  of  the  actual  miracle 
which  gave  rise  to  it.  When  His  enemies 
charged  Him  with  breaking  Sabbath  in  healing 
this  man,  He  used  these  words,  and  if  I  may  at- 
tempt most  reverently  to  interpret  His  meaning 
by  expressing  the  thought  in  other  words,  it  is  as 


126      THE  MISSIONAEY  MANIFESTO 

though^He  hadtsaid  :  You  charge  Me  with  break- 
ing Sabbath  because  I  have  healed  this  man.  Do 
you  not  know  and  understand  that  God  has 
never  had  a  Sabbath  since  man  sinned?  ''My 
Father  worketh.'^  Man  broke  in  upon  the  rest 
of  God  when  he  sinned  ;  and  God  can  never  be  at 
rest  while  humanity  sins  and  suffers.  It  was  a 
declaration  that  in  the  presence  of  human  sin, 
God  is  active  instead  of  passive  ;  and  moreover, 
that  His  activity  is  in  order  to  restore  rest  to 
those  who  have  lost  it. 

To  this  declaration  He  added  the  significant 
words,  ''  and  I  work,"  thus  claiming  cooperation 
with  God,  which  cooperation  was  illustrated  in 
what  He  had  then  done.  The  suffering  man  had 
been  without  Sabbath  for  eight-and-thirty  years, 
and  by  his  healing  had  been  restored  to  the  pos- 
sibility of  rest.  In  order  to  accomplish  this, 
Christ,  in  fellowship  with  God,  had  lost  His  rest. 
This,  then,  is  the  revelation  of  the  debtwe  owe  to 
the  world.  As  the  Father  sent  the  Son,  so  the 
Son  sends  us,  for  manifestation  and  for  coopera- 
tion. 

This  conception  of  our  debt  is  one  calculated  to 
inspire  us  with  the  loftiest  ambition,  and  at  the 
same  time  to  humble  us  to  the  dust  in  shame. 


THE  EEMISSIOX  OF  SINS  127 

Every  disciple  of  Jesus  ought  to  be  able  to  look 
into  the  face  of  those  hot  and  restless  souls  who 
lack  the  vision  of  God  because  of  sin,  and  say  : 
He  that  hath  seen  me  hath  seen  the  Christ ;  my 
Saviour  worketh  even  until  now,  and  I  work.  It 
is  impossible  to  say  this  without  an  overwhelm- 
ing sense  of  shame  filling  the  soul  on  account  of 
failure  and  shortcoming. 

And  yet  let  us  carefully  conceive  the  great 
ideal.  The  Church  is  sent  to  the  world  for  the 
manifestation  of  the  Manifester.  The  Church  is 
sent  to  the  world  for  cooperation  with  the  Son, 
Who  cooperates  with  the  Father,  in  order  to  set 
it  free  from  all  the  bonds  that  bind  it.  It  ought 
to  be  that  wherever  humanity  is  hot  and  restless 
for  lack  of  God,  humanity  can  find  God  in  the 
people  of  God. 

Our  debt  to  the  world  is  that  of  revealing 
Christ  to  men,  and  of  working  in  fellowship  with 
Christ.  To  fulfill  this  responsibility  is  to  be  for- 
ever restless  in  the  presence  of  human  restless- 
ness, to  abandon  all  our  personal  rights  and 
privileges  and  Sabbaths,  in  order  that  we  may 
toil  and  thus  create  Sabbath  for  others.  ''As 
the  Father  hath  sent  Me,  even  so  send  I  you.'' 

Wherever  the  disciples  cooperate  thus  with 


128     THE  MISSIONARY  MANIFESTO 

Christ  in  manifestation,  they  produce  a  crisis  in 
human  lives,  bringing  men  to  the  point  where 
they  must  choose.  Whenever  the  disciples  co- 
operate thus  with  Christ  in  service,  they  have  the 
right  to  pronounce  the  remitting  or  retaining 
word,  according  to  the  decision  that  men  make 
in  the  hour  of  crisis. 

This  is  a  most  solemn  consideration,  and  we  do 
well  honestly  to  face  it,  however  much  such  ac- 
tion may  rebuke  us,  in  order  that  by  new  dedica- 
tion of  all  we  are  to  Him  we  may  enter  into  the 
realization  of  His  great  purpose.  We  cannot  live 
in  fellowship  with  Christ  without  compelling 
those  with  whom  we  come  in  contact  to  stand  face 
to  face  with  Him.  And  whenever  we  do  this,  and 
they  are  thus  brought  to  the  crisis  of  choice;  it  is 
our  business  to  declare  to  them  the  way  of  the  life 
we  live,  and  when  in  response  to  that  declaration 
they  receive  or  reject  Him,  we  are  authorized  to 
declare  their  sins  remitted  or  retained. 

And  finally,  in  the  great  central  word  of  the 
passage,  our  Lord  clearly  reveals  the  dynamic ; 
and  in  the  light  of  the  solemnity  of  the  work 
committed  to  us,  how  conscious  we  are  of  our 
need  of  that  which  He  promised  to  His  disciples. 
If  in   very  deed  the  tremendous  responsibility 


THE  EEMISSION  OF  SIIs^S  129 

rests  upon  us,  as  Christian  men  and  women,  of 
bringing  the  world  to  the  crisis  of  choice,  in  order 
that  sins  may  be  remitted  or  retained  j  we  are  in- 
evitably compelled  to  exclaim,  '^  Who  is  sufficient 
for  these  things  r^ 

The  answer  to  that  necessary  inquiry  is  con- 
tained in  the  action  and  the  words  of  Christ  as 
here  recorded.  He  prophetically  breathed  upon 
that  first  group  of  disciples,  and  said  to  them, 
^'Eeceive  ye  the  Holy  Ghost."  I  use  the  word 
*^  prophetically,"  because  they  did  not  then  re- 
ceive the  Spirit ;  for  on  that  same  occasion  in  the 
upper  room,  as  Luke  records.  He  charged  His 
disciples  to  tarry  in  the  city  until  they  were 
clothed  with  power  from  on  high.  His  action  of 
breathing  upon  them  indicated  the  fact  that  the 
Spirit  could  only  be  bestowed  upon  them  in  full- 
ness through  Him  ;  and  His  word  indicated  the 
fact  that  it  was  only  possible  for  them  to  fulfill 
their  responsibility  in  the  power  of  the  Spirit. 

It  is  of  supreme  importance  here  that  we  should 
connect  this  word  with  the  comparison  which  we 
have  already  considered.  That  may  be  done 
perhaps  by  reading  the  words  that  He  uttered, 
omitting  for  a  moment  the  declaration  of  the 
prophetic  breathing.     ^'  As  the  Father  hath  sent 


130     THE  MISSIONAEY  MANIFESTO 

Me,  even  so  send  I  you.  .  .  .  Eeceive  ye  the 
Holy  Spirit."  The  suggestion  of  these  words  is 
that  Jesus  fulfilled  His  mission  in  cooperation 
with  the  Spirit,  and  that  we  through  Him  have 
the  same  Spirit  at  our  disposal  for  the  doing  of 
our  work,  as  He  had  for  the  doing  of  His,  If  we 
think  again  of  the  story  of  His  mission  of  mani- 
festation and  cooperation,  it  may  be  told  in  very 
brief  chapters.  He  was  born  of  the  Spirit ;  He 
was  anointed  by  the  Spirit;  He  exercised  His 
ministry  in  the  power  of  the  Spirit  j  He  offered 
Himself  to  God  upon  the  Cross  through  the  eter- 
nal Spirit.  Even  after  His  resurrection,  accord- 
ing to  the  words  of  Luke  in  the  book  of  the  Acts, 
He  gave  commandment  to  the  apostles  through 
the  Holy  Ghost. 

The  whole  ministry  of  Jesus  was  a  ministry  of 
fellowship  with  the  Spirit.  The  Father  gave  the 
Spirit  to  Him,  the  eternal  Son,  not  by  measure, 
but  in  fullness.  If  that  be  remembered,  there  is 
new  force  in  the  words,  "  As  the  Father  hath  sent 
Me,  even  so  send  I  you  .  .  .  receive  ye  the 
Holy  Ghost."  The  men  and  women  who  are 
commissioned  by  Christ  to  remit  or  retain  sins 
are  those  who  have  spiritual  union  with  Christ  in 
the  most  absolute  sense  of  the  word. 


THE  EEMISSION  OF  SINS  131 

He  was  born  of  the  Spirit ;  so  also  is  the  be- 
liever. It  may  be  objected  that  there  is  a  very 
great  difference,  and  yet  does  the  objection  hold 
good  ?  Is  it  not  true  that  the  life  which  we  now 
live  is  a  life  which  began  when  we  were  born  of 
the  Spirit?  All  that  which  preceded  the  hour  of 
the  new  birth  is  cancelled,  has  ceased  to  be.  The 
things  that  were  gain  are  counted  but  dung  and 
dross.  We  have  sometimes  smiled  when  we  have 
heard  some  illiterate  man  declare  on  a  given  day 
that  it  was  his  birthday,  and  that  he  was  three, 
or  seven,  or  ten  years  of  age,  when  apparently  he 
was  a  man  of  forty  or  fifty,  or  more.  And  yet  he 
was  perfectly  right.  He  began  to  live  when  he 
was  born  of  the  Spirit  of  God.  It  is  only  such  as 
live  this  new  life  which  had  its  beginning  by  the 
action  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  who  can  possibly 
manifest  Christ  or  cooperate  with  Him. 

Again,  He  was  anoint(^d  by  the  Spirit ;  and  so 
also  is  the  believer  ;  and  in  that  anointing  perfect 
equipment  is  provided  for  all  the  work  to  be  done. 

He  exercised  His  ministry  in  the  power  of  the 
Spirit ;  and  the  same  power  is  perpetually  at  the 
disposal  of  all  those  whom  He  sends,  both  for  the 
perfecting  of  the  life  for  manifestation,  and  its 
empowering  for  cooperation. 


132     THE  MISSIOlsrAEY  MANIFESTO 

And  finally,  as  througli  the  eternal  Spirit,  He 
offered  Himself  to  God ;  the  Ibestowment  of  the 
Spirit  upon  the  believer  is  not  only  for  new 
manhood  and  new  equipment,  but  also  for  new 
suffering.  No  man  can  tell  another  that  his  sins 
are  forgiven,  unless  in  some  measure  he  knows 
what  it  is  to  have  fellowship  with  the  suffering  of 
Christ.  It  is  only  when  we  are  swayed  and 
swept  by  the  compassion  of  Jesus,  and  only  when 
we  can  say,  ^'I  could  wish  that  I  myself  were 
anathema  from  Christ  for  my  brethren's  sake," 
that  we  have  power  to  pronounce  the  word  of 
absolution. 

If  on  account  of  our  own  feebleness  of  realiza- 
tion these  things  are  stated  negatively,  it  is  well 
for  us  to  remember  that  this  word  of  Jesus,  and 
the  work  which  followed  it,  mean  that  the  Spirit 
is  at  the  disposal  of  the  believer  for  life,  for 
work,  and  for  suffering ;  and  therein  is  created 
both  the  authority  and  the  power  by  which  we 
are  sent  to  men  in  order  that  they  may  be 
brought  to  remission  or  retention  of  sins. 

Thus  inclusively  in  the  power  of  the  Spirit  we 
can  manifest  the  Christ  and  cooperate  with  Him. 
This  great  power  for  the  proclamation  of  the 
evangel,  for  the  creation  of  the  crisis,   for  the 


THE  EEMISSION  OF  SINS  133 

pronunciatiou  of  remissiou  or  retention  is  not 
vested  iu  a  few,  but  in  the  whole  Church  j  and 
she  is  able  to  exercise  that  power  in  proportion 
as  she  is  abandoned  to  the  dominion  of  the  Spirit, 
and  thus  is  living  the  life  of  fellowship  with  the 
Lord. 

This,  then,  is  the  fundamental  message  of  the 
Christian  evangel,  and  this  the  great  offer  of  God 
to  men,  which  the  Church  is  responsible  for 
making.  She  is  commissioned  to  go  to  all  men 
and  tell  them  that  through  Christ  it  is  possible 
that  their  sins  may  be  forgiven ;  that  they  may 
have  a  new  moral  beginning  in  spiritual  power. 

When  Nicodemus  said  unto  Jesus,  '^  How  can 
a  man  be  born  when  he  is  old  ?  Can  he  enter  a 
second  time  into  his  mother's  womb,  and  be 
born?"  his  question  was  not  flippant  as  some 
people  seem  to  imagine.  He  meant.  What  can  a 
man  do  with  the  days  already  lived  ?  How  can 
the  nature  which  he  received  at  the  beginning  be 
changed  ?  The  answer  of  Christ  was,  and  is,  that 
it  is  possible  for  a  man  to  be  born  anew  of  the 
Spirit ;  that  in  that  new  birth  there  is  moral  re- 
generation ;  that  in  that  moral  regeneration  life 
begins  again,  equipped  for  reconstruction. 

That  is  the  message  of  the  Church  to  the  world, 


134     THE  MISSIONAEY  MANIFESTO 

and  that  pulpit  disastrously  fails,  and  that  mis- 
sionary endeavour  lacks  its  supreme  note,  where 
this  evangel  is  not  proclaimed  and  this  authority 
is  not  exercised.  It  is  for  this,  moreover,  that 
the  world  is  supremely  waiting.  Humanity  is 
one,  the  round  world  over  ;  and  whether  men  be 
struggling,  or  hoping  to  struggle,  through  long 
processes  to  reach  the  obliteration  of  personality 
that  blots  out  sin,  or  whether  men  are  crying  in 
still  more  acute  agony,  ' '  What  must  we  do  to  be 
saved  ?'^  the  supreme  and  underlying  need  is 
that  of  the  remission  of  sins.  Our  business  in  the 
world  is  to  bring  men  to  Christ,  and  so  to  the 
possibility  of  such  remission. 

By  the  world's  need,  by  the  Christ's  compas- 
sion, by  the  desire  and  purpose  of  God,  by  the 
hope  of  the  salvation  of  our  own  lives,  if  we 
name  His  name  we  must  carry  His  burden  and 
fulfill  His  purpose.  As  the  Father  sent  Him, 
and  He  sends  us,  so  must  we  go,  bearing  to  men 
in  the  power  of  the  Spirit  the  glad  news  of  the 
possibility  of  sins  forgiven  and  peace  with 
heaven. 


THE  FOURFOLD  RESOURCE  AND 
RESPONSIBILITY 


"  Take  My  yoke  upon  you.^^ — Matthew  ii  :  29. 

"  He  shall  be  servant  of  all ^ — Mark  10  :  44. 
**  Tarry  ye  in  the  city,  until  ye  be  clothed  with 
power  from  on  high.^"* — Luke  24:49. 
"  Abide  in  M^.'*— John  15  :;3. 


VI 

THE  FOURFOLD  RESOURCE  AND 
RESPONSIBILITY 

IN  the  light  of  the  matters  already  consid- 
ered, our  last  study  must  necessarily  be 
personal,  and  have  to  do  with  the  condi- 
tions upon  which  it  is  possible  to  avail  ourselves 
of  the  resources  at  our  disposal  for  the  fulfillment 
of  our  responsibilities. 

In  order  to  clearness  of  apprehension,  let  us 
first  restate  the  teaching  of  the  Gospels  as  to  our 
responsibilities  and  resources. 

First,  then,  as  to  our  responsibilities.  These 
are  created  by  our  deposit. 

The  Gospel  according  to  Matthew  is  the  Gospel 
of  the  King.  The  commission  of  Jesus  as  there 
recorded  charges  us  to  declare  His  regal  authority. 

The  Gospel  according  to  Mark  is  the  Gospel  of 
the  Servant  of  God.  The  commission  of  Jesus  as 
there  recorded  lays  upon  us  the  responsibility  of 
proclaiming  in  the  kosmos  the  good  news  of  His 
renewing  ministry. 

The  Gospel  according  to  Luke  is  the  Gospel  of 
137 


138      THE  MISSIONAEY  MAOTFESTO 

the  perfect  and  perfecting  Man.  The  commission 
of  Jesus  as  there  recorded  makes  us  responsible 
for  revealing  His  redeeming  ability. 

The  Gospel  according  to  John  is  the  Gospel  of 
the  manifestation  of  God.  The  commission  of 
Jesus  as  there  recorded  calls  us  to  cooperation 
with  Him  in  the  great  ministry  for  the  remission 
of  sins. 

To  summarize  yet  more  briefly,  the  missionary 
deposit  which  the  Church  possesses  for  the  world 
is  that  of  the  regal  authority,  the  renewing  min- 
istry, the  redeeming  ability,  and  the  reconciling 
work  of  the  Son  of  God. 

Our  debt  in  each  case  is  conditioned  by  the 
deposit.  We  are  to  proclaim  His  royalty,  we  are 
to  have  fellowship  with  Him  in  His  renewing 
ministry,  we  are  to  demonstrate  in  our  own  lives 
His  redeeming  ability,  and  we  are  to  cooperate 
with  Him  in  His  reconciling  work. 

As  to  our  resources,  these  are  declared,  in  each 
case,  side  by  side  with  the  declarations  of  respon- 
sibility. 

When  Jesus  charged  His  first  disciples  to  dis- 
ciple the  nations.  He  said,  ' '  I  am  with  you  al- 
way."  The  presence  of  the  King  constitutes  the 
power  for  proclaiming  His  royalty. 


THE  FOUEFOLD  EESOUECE         139 

"When  He  charged  them  to  go  into  the  kosmos 
and  to  preach  the  evangel  to  the  whole  creation, 
it  is  written  immediately  that  they  went  forth, 
'Hhe  Lord  working  with  them."  Power  for  the 
fulfillment  of  this  phase  of  responsibility  is  that 
of  His  fellowship  with  us  in  suffering,  in  sacri- 
fice, and  so  in  healing  ministry. 

When  He  charged  them  that  they  were  to  be 
His  witnesses,  He  promised  them  the  Holy 
Spirit,  and  on  the  day  of  Pentecost  fulfilled  His 
promise.  Power  for  such  witness  is  that  of  the 
indwelling  and  transforming  Spirit. 

When  He  charged  them  to  remit  or  retain  sins. 
He  did  so  in  conjunction  with  the  declaration 
that  He  sent  them  as  the  Father  had  sent  Him. 
Power  for  this  most  sacred  work  is  provided  in 
that  vital  union  of  believers  with  Himself,  which 
is  most  perfectly  set  forth  under  His  own  match- 
less figure  of  the  vine. 

Thus  it  is  at  once  seen  that  all  our  resources 
for  fulfilling  the  ministry  are  in  Him.  If  we  are 
to  proclaim  His  royalty  ;  if  we  are  to  have  fel- 
lowship with  His  suffering  ministry  of  renewal ; 
if  we  are  to  manifest  His  redeeming  ability ;  if 
we  are  to  be  in  true  cooperation  with  Him  in  the 
manifestation  of  God,  and  the  putting  away  of 


140     THE  MISSIONAEY  MANIFESTO 

sin  ;  we  must  avail  ourselves  of  the  resources 
which  He  has  provided. 

This  brings  us  to  our  present  inquiry.  Upon 
what  conditions  can  we  appropriate  the  promises 
of  power  which  He  made,  in  order  to  the  dis- 
charge of  the  debt  created  by  the  deposit  in  each 
case? 

Let  us  ask  the  questions  separately.  How 
may  I  enter  into  such  consciousness  of  the  pres- 
ence of  the  King  as  to  be  able  to  proclaim  His 
royalty  ?  How  may  I  enter  into  such  fellowship 
with  the  actual  suffering  Servant  of  God  as  to  be 
able  to  communicate  His  healing  power  to  the 
creation?  How  may  I  enter  into  such  true 
realization  of  all  the  powers  of  His  life  as  to 
demonstrate  in  the  world  His  redeeming  ability  f 
How  may  I  have  His  life  so  flowing  through  my 
own  that  through  me  God  may  be  manifested  for 
the  putting  away  of  sins  ? 

These  conditions  may  be  stated  in  each  case  by 
quotation  of  supreme  and  central  words  peculiar 
to  the  Gospel  which  reveals  the  phase  of  mission- 
ary responsibility  under  consideration. 

At  this  point  we  must  draw  the  necessary  dis- 
tinction between  responsibility  for  the  proclama- 
tion of  the  evangel,  and  responsibility  as  to  our 


THE  FOURFOLD  RESOUECE         141 

ability  to  proclaim.  We  liave  spokeu  of  our  re- 
sponsibility to  the  world,  but  how  are  we  to  ful- 
fill it  ?  It  is  already  conceded  that  our  resources 
are  in  Christ,  but  how  are  we  to  avail  ourselves 
of  these  resources  ? 

In  order  to  the  proclamation  of  the  royalty  of 
Jesus  there  is  a  simple  and  all-inclusive  condition. 
It  is  to  be  found  in  one  simple,  brief,  and  in  some 
senses  incomplete  quotation  from  the  eleventh 
chapter  of  Matthew,  "  Take  My  yoke  upon  you." 
In  order  that  we  may  gather  the  force  of  this 
word,  we  must  consider  it  in  its  contextual  light. 

The  closing  paragraph  of  that  chapter  contains 
the  supreme  call  and  claim  of  the  King.  It  is  the 
most  significant  and  stupendous  claim  that  Jesus 
ever  uttered.  It  is  well  that  we  should  have  it 
before  us  in  its  entirety. 

"  All  things  have  been  delivered  unto  Me  of 
My  Father :  and  no  one  knoweth  the  Son,  save 
the  Father ;  neither  doth  any  know  the  Father 
save  the  Son,  and  he  to  whomsoever  the  Son 
willeth  to  reveal  Him.  Come  unto  Me,  all  ye 
that  labour  and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I  will  give 
you  rest.  Take  My  yoke  upon  you,  and  learn  of 
Me ;  for  I  am  meek  and  lowly  in  heart :  and  ye 
shall  find  rest  unto  your  souls." 


142     THE  MISSIOI^AEY  MANIFESTO 

If  in  a  brief  word  I  may  attempt  to  express  the 
meaning  of  the  great  passage,  I  shall  do  so  by 
saying  that  Christ  therein  affirmed  that  all  the 
restlessness  of  humanity  is  due  to  the  anarchy 
of  humanity  j  to  the  fact  that  man  is  not  living 
his  life  in  relation  to  the  government  and 
authority  of  God.  He  claimed  that  God  had 
given  Him  all  authority  to  reveal  Him  to  men. 
He  claimed  that  man  can  only  find  his  way  into 
rest  as  he  comes  into  the  government  of  God  j  and 
that  he  can  only  find  his  way  into  that  govern- 
ment through  Himself.  In  view  of  these  facts 
His  call  was  threefold  ;  first,  ^'  Come  unto  Me"  ; 
secondly,  *'  Take  My  yoke  "  j  finally,  ^'  Learn  of 
Me.'^ 

Out  of  the  centre  of  that  sublime  passage,  with 
its  supreme  claim  and  call,  I  take  that  word, 
''Take  My  yoke  upon  you,"  as  revealing  the 
one  and  only  condition,  upon  fulfillment  of 
which,  we  shall  be  able  to  proclaim  His  royalty. 
I  am  perfectly  familiar  with  the  fact  that  the 
word  has  many  wide  and  spacious  applications 
with  which  I  am  not  now  proposing  to  deal.  I 
take  the  simplest  only.  Loyalty  is  the  condition 
for  the  victorious  proclamation  of  royalty.  If 
the  Church  of  God  is  to  proclaim  in  power  the 


THE  FOURFOLD  RESOURCE         143 

fact  of  the  Lordsliip  of  Christ,  she  must  herself 
be  loyal  to  Him,  taking  His  yoke  upon  her. 

There  is  a  fact  full  of  encouragement,  not  to  be 
forgotten  in  this  connection.  When  Jesus  said, 
*^Take  My  yoke  upon  you,"  He  spoke  in  the 
j&rst  place  not  of  the  yoke  He  was  imposing 
upon  others,  but  of  the  yoke  He  Himself  wore 
as  Man.  That  was  the  yoke  of  a  perfect  sur- 
render to  the  will  of  God,  and  absolute  submis- 
sion to  His  throne.  To  all  who  come  to  Him 
He  says,  ''Take  My  yoke;  the  yoke  I  wear  is 
the  yoke  I  impose  upon  you.  As  I  am  submiss- 
ive to  government,  so  also  must  you  be,  if  you 
are  to  exercise  authority."  Said  the  Roman 
centurion,  ''I  also  am  a  man  under  authority, 
having  under  myself  soldiers."  The  condition 
for  the  exercise  of  authority  is  ever  that  of  sub- 
mission to  authority. 

Therein  consists  the  whole  philosophy  of  our 
responsibility.  If  we  are  to  proclaim  the  royalty 
of  Jesus  we  must  wear  His  yoke  and  yield  our- 
selves to  His  Kingship.  The  secret  of  power  for 
the  declaration  of  the  Kingship  of  Jesus  in  the 
world,  and  for  the  bringing  of  the  world  to  the 
consciousness  of  that  Kingship,  is  that  of  the 
realization  within  ourselves  of  all  the  meaning  of 


144     THE  MISSIOIsTAEY  MANIFESTO 

His  governmeut.  This  will  issue  in  the  mani- 
festation to  the  world  of  the  breadth  and  benefi- 
cence of  that  government.  In  the  power  of  such 
realization  and  manifestation,  there  may  be  such 
insistence  upon  His  Kingship  as  will  issue  in 
triumph. 

The  Church  of  God  will  never  make  the  world 
believe  that  Jesus  is  in  very  deed  and  truth  the 
King  until  she  is  herself  submitted  to  His  King- 
ship. I  suppose  that  statement  may  raise  some 
measure  of  resentment.  I  may  be  asked  if  I 
mean  to  suggest  that  the  Church  of  God  is  not 
loyal  to  the  Kingship  of  Christ  ?  I  mean  more 
than  to  suggest  it ;  I  declare  that  it  is  so  j  and  I 
af&rm  that  to  be  the  reason  of  all  her  weakness 
and  failure. 

We  regularly  pray,  until  sometimes  one  is 
almost  afraid  of  the  formalism  of  it,  ''Thy  King- 
dom come.  Thy  will  be  done."  That  prayer 
prevails  in  the  measure  in  which  we  ourselves 
hallow  the  name,  are  submitted  to  the  Kingship, 
and  do  the  will  of  God.  Our  work  in  the  world 
prevails  in  the  proportion  in  which  we  are  loyal 
to  the  Lord  Christ.  My  heart  is  full  of  hope  and 
full  of  expectation  when  I  look  out  over  the 
world,  for  everywhere  there  are  evidences  of  the 


THE  FOURFOLD  RESOURCE         145 

activity  of  the  Spirit  of  God.  Tlie  only  hour  in 
which  I  am  depressed  is  that  in  which  I  look 
within  the  Christian  Church.  Do  we  believe  in 
His  Lordship  ?  Do  we  believe  He  is  King  1  Let 
the  question  be  answered  individually  and  pri- 
vately and  honestly,  only  let  us  remember  that 
we  cannot  make  the  world  believe  that  we  be- 
lieve, save  as  we  are  loyal  to  His  Kingship. 
Unless  we  are  so  submitted  to  Him  that  there  is 
manifest  to  the  world  the  gracious  influence  of 
that  submission,  we  have  no  prevailing  argu- 
ment for  His  Kingship.  The  breadth  and  the 
glory  and  the  beauty,  resulting  from  our  own 
submission  to  the  Kingship  of  Jesus,  must  be 
our  argument  as  we  proclaim  His  royalty  to  the 
world. 

The  condition  upon  which  we  may  avail  our- 
selves of  the  resources  provided  for  the  fulfill- 
ment of  the  second  phase  of  commission  is  indi- 
cated in  the  words,  ''Servant  of  all."  Again 
let  us  gather  the  contextual  light  upon  that 
imperfect  phrase. 

James  and  John,  the  sons  of  Zebedee,  asked 
the  Lord  that  they  might  sit,  one  on  His  right 
hand,  and  the  other  on  His  left,  in  His  Kingdom. 
When  we  are  inclined  to  be  angry  with  them  let 


146     THE  MISSIONAEY  MANIFESTO 

us  remember  how  infinitely  tender  Jesus  was. 
He  rebuked  them  ;  but  in  great  tenderness  and 
great  patience  He  said,  ''Ye  know  not  what  ye 
ask.  Are  ye  able  to  drink  the  cup  that  I  drink  ? 
or  to  be  baptized  with  the  baptism  that  I  am 
baptized  with?'^  And  they  said,  "We  are 
able."  They  meant  it.  They  were  absolutely 
honest,  but  they  were  appallingly  ignorant. 
Then  with  a  great  foreseeing  of  His  own  method 
of  fulfillment  He  said,  "The  cup  that  I  drink 
ye  shall  drink  ;  and  with  the  baptism  that  I  am 
baptized  withal  shall  ye  be  baptized."  He  then 
went  on  to  teach  them  that  the  underlying  pur- 
pose of  their  inquiry  was  wrong.  "It  is  not 
Mine,"  He  said,  "to  give  this  right  to  sit  on 
My  right  hand  to  any  except  to  those  for  whom 
it  is  prepared."  Moreover,  their  request  for 
the  place  of  power  made  it  evident  that  they 
had  not  yet  come  to  fellowship  with  His  cup  and 
baptism.  Then  it  was  that  He  said,  "Whoso- 
ever would  be  first  among  you,  shall  be  servant 
of  alV'>  ',  and  He  illuminated  His  meaning  and 
inspired  them  to  humility  by  the  great  declara- 
tion, "The  Son  of  Man  came  not  to  be  ministered 
unto,  but  to  minister,  and  to  give  His  life  a 
ransom  for  many." 


THE  FOURFOLD  RESOURCE         147 

The  teachiDg  as  to  responsibility  is  that  in  or- 
der to  fellowship  with  Jesus  in  His  renewing 
ministry,  the  selfless  motive  of  activity  is  nec- 
essary. ''Servant  of  all"  ;  and  the  word  must 
be  interpreted  by  His  declaration  concerning 
Himself  that  He  came  ''  not  to  be  ministered  unto 
but  to  minister."  I  do  not  think  that  this  ap- 
plication can  be  made  in  the  midst  of  a  multitude. 
It  must  be  made  alone.  It  must  be  made  quietly. 
Let  us  seek  to  discover  the  principle,  and  then 
leave  the  matter.  The  principle  is  that  in  order 
to  fellowship  with  Jesus  in  the  proclamation  of 
the  evangel  to  the  whole  creation,  we  must  be  at 
the  end  of  that  subtly  selfish  motive  which  is  so 
slow  to  die.  A  question  which  ought  to  be  asked 
by  every  disciple  at  work  for  the  Master  is  the 
question,  Why  ?  Why  am  I  doing  this  !  What 
am  I  seeking?  My  own  enrichment,  my  fame, 
my  comfort,  my  ease  ?  I  repeat,  these  questions 
are  not  for  public  answer.  They  are  for  private 
examination,  and  they  must  be  faced.  So  long 
as  there  lurks  in  our  service,  even  though  we 
know  that  service  to  be  of  the  highest  and  the 
best  in  its  intention  and  purpose,  the  desire  that 
somehow  or  other  it  may  serve  us  and  minister 
to  us,  we  have  not  come  into  true  fellowship  with 


148     THE  MISSIOKAEY  MANIFESTO 

Christ.  He  came  not  to  be  ministered  unto. 
He  did  not  seek  anything  for  Himself.  For- 
evermore  He  was  unmindful  of  Himself.  He 
was  mindful  of  the  things  of  others,  and  the 
whole  truth  may  again  be  revealed  by  a  quota- 
tion, quite  apart  from  the  context.  I  call  His 
own  enemies,  from  the  midst  of  ribald  mockery, 
into  the  witness-box,  and  quite  unintentionally 
they  tell  the  whole  story  of  the  Servant  of  God. 
*^He  saved  others,  Himself  He  cannot  save.'^ 
I  propose  to  amend  the  declaration,  and  to  de- 
clare that  He  saved  others.  Himself  He  did  not 
seek  to  save,  or  desire  to  save,  or  attempt  to 
save  ;  and  therein  is  revealed  the  whole  secret  of 
fellowship  with  Him  in  renewing  and  healing 
work.  Our  service  must  have  at  its  centre  noth- 
ing of  self-seeking.  That  is  a  matter,  I  repeat 
for  the  third  time,  not  now  to  be  applied,  but  to 
be  faced  when  we  are  alone. 

Let  us  pass,  then,  to  the  third  phase  of  the 
commission — that  namely,  of  the  demonstration 
of  redeeming  ability.  How  are  we  to  appropriate 
the  resources  of  His  life,  so  that  through  our 
lives  witness  may  be  borne  to  His  power  *?  Here 
we  turn  to  the  actual  words  of  the  commission, 
because  therein  Christ  so  clearly  indicated  the 


THE  FOURFOLD  EESOURCE         149 

conditions  upon  wliich  we  shall  be  able  to  fulfill 
this  ministry  of  witness.  He  commanded  those 
first  disciples  in  Jerusalem,  "Tarry  ye  in  the  city, 
until  ye  be  clothed  with  power  from  on  high." 

Nothing  in  ourselves  of  wisdom,  or  of  planning, 
or  of  power,  or  of  endeavour  is  sufficient  to  the 
demonstration  before  the  eyes  of  men  of  the  re- 
deeming ability  of  Christ.  We  cannot  be  wit- 
nesses in  the  full  and  gracious  and  glorious  sense 
of  the  word  by  any  strength  or  wisdom  of  our 
own.  Dealing  with  the  commission,  we  carefully 
drew  attention  to  a  matter  which  it  is  of  the  ut- 
most importance  that  we  consider  again.  The 
principle  involved  in  the  command  to  tarry  is  an 
abiding  principle.  It  is  that  we  are  not  equal  to 
witness  in  our  own  power.  We  need  the  power  of 
the  Holy  Spirit.  The  application  is  changed. 
The  disciples  had  to  wait  for  fifty  days  for  the 
coming  of  the  Spirit ;  for  the  forty  during  which 
the  Lord  remained  among  them,  and  for  the  ten 
during  which  He  was  absent  and  they  were  wait- 
ing in  the  upper  room.  We  have  not  to  wait 
half  an  hour  for  the  Spirit  of  God.  The  Spirit 
has  been  given,  and  is  immediately  at  the  dis- 
posal of  all  believers  for  fulfillment  of  their  re- 
sponsibility. 


150      THE  MISSIOIiTAEY  MANIFESTO 

The  abiding  principle  is  that  the  Church,  in 
order  to  bear  her  witness,  must  depend  wholly 
and  absolutely  on  the  Spirit.  Such  dependence 
is  the  condition  of  realization,  and  consequently 
the  condition  of  manifestation.  We  supremely 
need  to  recognize  this  truth  in  its  application  to 
the  corporate  life  and  testimony  of  the  Church. 
We  cannot  bear  witness  to  the  redeeming  ability 
of  Christ  in  our  Church  life  in  any  other  way 
than  that  of  ceasing  to  put  our  trust  in  men; 
ceasing  to  seek  help  from  men  ;  ceasing  to  employ 
the  methods  which  are  carnal  and  worldly-wise  ; 
and  abandoning  ourselves  utterly  and  wholly  to 
the  life  and  the  light  and  the  love  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  of  God. 

The  principle  has  also  the  most  immediate  per- 
sonal application.  If  we  attempt  to  teach  in  the 
Sunday-school  in  any  other  power  than  that  of 
our  dependence  on  the  Spirit,  we  are  doomed  to 
failure.  If  we  attempt  to  preach  in  any  other 
way  than  that  of  dependence  on  the  Spirit,  we 
are  foreordained  to  failure.  If  we  attempt  to  evan- 
gelize the  heathen  by  our  own  cleverness,  by  our 
own  new  methods,  apart  from  the  power  of  the 
Spirit,  our  efforts  are  entirely  useless. 

All  this  becomes  the  more  searching  and  sol- 


THE  FOURFOLD  RESOURCE         151 

emn  a  consideration  as  we  remember  that  if  we 
tarry,  blame  attaches  to  us,  because  there  need  be 
no  tarrying.  We  can  take  our  way,  if  we  will, 
to  our  work  in  the  school,  endued  with  power 
from  on  high.  We  can  go  to  our  pulpits,  if  we 
will,  in  the  fullness  of  the  Holy  Si^irit.  We  can 
proceed  to  the  uttermost  part  of  the  earth,  if  we 
will,  in  the  power  and  demonstration  of  the 
Spirit ;  for  the  Spirit  has  been  given  and  never 
withdrawn. 

Nevertheless  the  principle  must  not  be  forgot- 
ten. Unless  we  have  this  enduement,  unless  we 
are  in  conscious  fellowship  with  the  Spirit  of  God, 
we  cannot  bear  witness  to  the  world  of  the  re- 
deeming ability  of  the  Christ. 

Now  we  come  to  the  last  phase  of  the  commis- 
sion, which  in  some  senses  is  the  most  wonderful 
and  most  awe-inspiring  of  them  all.  What  is  the 
abiding  condition  of  cooperation  with  Christ  in 
the  reconciling  work  of  revealing  the  Father  and 
of  dealing  with  the  sins  of  men  ?  The  answer  is 
fully  given  in  the  word  of  our  Lord,  ''Abide  in 
Me."  Again  we  need  the  contextual  light,  and 
must  recall  the  teaching  of  that  wonderful  fifteenth 
chapter  of  the  Gospel  of  John. 

Occurring  in  the  midst  of  the  discourses  which 


152     THE  MISSIONAEY  MAOTFESTO 

Jesus  uttered  to  His  disciples  before  He  left  them, 
it  constitutes  a  commentary  on  the  union  between 
Himself  and  them  which  would  follow  His  death, 
resurrection,  ascension,  and  the  coming  of  the 
Spirit.  We  must  think  of  the  whole  figure,  in 
order  to  make  application  of  the  condition  en- 
joined by  the  words,  ^^  Abide  in  Me."  That 
whole  figure  is  contained  in  the  words  of  Christ, 
^^I  am  the  Yine.'^  Unless  we  are  careful,  we 
miss  the  force  and  beauty  of  the  teaching  sug- 
gested in  these  words.  I  fear  that  we  are  in  the 
habit  of  reading  the  passage  as  though  Christ  had 
said,  I  am  the  main  stem  of  the  vine,  and  you  are 
the  branches  j  whereas  His  word  was  far  more 
remarkable.  He  said,  ^' I  am  the  Vine."  That 
is  inclusive ;  root,  and  stem,  and  branches,  and 
leaves,  and  tendrils,  and  clusters  of  fruit.  The 
vine  is  not  complete  without  its  branches,  and  we 
at  once  see  that  what  is  suggested  is,  that  the 
branches  are  a  veritable  part  of  Himself  j  that 
while  it  is  true,  most  solemnly  true,  that  apart 
from  Him — that  is,  severed  from  Him— branches 
can  do  nothing,  it  is  equally  true  that  apart 
from  the  branches  He  cannot  bear  fruit.  He 
is  dependent  on  the  branches,  as  the  branches 
are  dependent    upon    Him.     That  is  the    fact 


THE  FOURFOLD  RESOURCE         153 

which  creates  the  solemnity  of  our  responsi- 
bility. 

The  awe-inspiring  note  of  this  responsibility 
creates  our  anxiety  as  to  the  conditions  upon 
which  we  may  avail  ourselves  of  those  resources 
which  are  necessary  to  fulfillment.  Our  resources 
are  all  in  Him.  His  life  unhindered  must  issue 
in  the  fruit  which  glorifies  God,  being  produced 
in  the  branches. 

What,  then,  is  the  teaching  as  to  conditions  f 
Manifestation  and  cooperation  are  only  possible 
by  maintained  identification,  '^  Abide  in  Me.'^ 
To  deal  with  sins  for  remission  or  retention  we 
must  abide  in  Him  ;  to  be  able  to  bring  to  men 
that  unveiling  of  God  which  produces  conviction 
and  provides  deliverance,  we  must  abide  in  Him. 

Such  consideration  makes  the  word  '  ^  abide '^ 
almost  appalling  in  its  solemnity.  We  recognize 
the  absolute  necessity  for  abiding  in  Him.  We 
see  how  the  branch  perishes  and  is  only  fit  for 
burning,  when  severed  from  Him,  and  we  are 
filled  with  fear.  The  word  is  severe  with  a  terri- 
ble severity,  revealing  to  us  our  utter  helplessness 
in  the  presence  of  our  responsibility,  and  bowing 
us  to  the  dust  with  the  consciousness  thereof. 

But  the  word  thrills  with  a  great  tenderness 


154      THE  MISSIOKAEY  MAKEFESTO 

also,  and  is  characterized  by  a  gracious  simplicity. 
There  are  one  or  two  of  the  very  simplest  mat- 
ters we  need  to  remember.  These  words  were 
words  spoken  to  the  men  who  knew  Him  inti- 
mately after  the  flesh.  We  must  remember,  how- 
ever, that  they  were  spoken  to  simple,  trembling, 
troubled  hearts,  like  our  own.  The  one  condi- 
tion of  abiding  is  weakness.  It  does  not  require 
any  effort  to  abide.  We  enter  a  building,  and 
for  a  period  we  abide  in  that  building  without 
effort.  We  make  effort  when  we  leave  it.  Abi- 
ding, therefore,  is  a  word  which  indicates  weak- 
ness, and  the  consciousness  of  it,  and  the  yield- 
ing to  it,  so  that  weakness  is  the  strength  which 
keeps  us  in  Christ. 

Abiding  in  Christ  makes  no  intellectual  de- 
mand upon  us.  We  are  not  always  equally  con- 
scious that  we  are  in  Him.  We  have  said  on  the 
morning  of  some  given  day,  that  for  the  day  we 
would  abide  in  Christ,  we  would  never  forget 
Him,  we  would  keep  Him  in  mind  ;  but  we  have 
never  succeeded.  We  start  into  the  business  of 
the  day ;  into  the  midst  of  the  city  with  its  rush 
and  its  roar ;  into  the  following  of  our  necessary 
and  proper  vocation ;  and  soon,  so  far  as  our 
immediate  consciousness  is  concerned,  we  have 


THE  FOURFOLD  RESOURCE         155 

forgotten  Him ;  and  then  the  heart  is  troubled. 
But  it  need  not  be  j  we  abide  in  Him,  even 
though  we  are  not  conscious  of  Him.  To  return 
to  the  simple  figure  already  used,  we  enter  a 
building  and  remain  in  it.  We  do  not  remember 
all  the  time  that  we  are  in  the  building,  but  we 
abide  there.  So  abiding  in  Christ  is  not  the 
result  of  strength  j  neither  is  it  dependent  upon 
constant  consciousness  of  the  fact. 

What,  then,  is  it  to  abide  in  Him  f  He  did 
not  leave  us  without  clear  instruction,  for  He 
said,  *'He  that  keepeth  My  commandments 
abideth  in  Me."  To  abide,  then,  is  to  obey.  To 
obey  is  to  abide.  If  we  would  abide  in  Him,  we 
are  quietly  to  obey  Him  j  and  if  we  do  so,  then 
we  abide  in  Him.  And  if  we  do  so,  then  abiding 
in  Him,  all  the  tides  of  His  life  flow  through  us, 
and  produce  the  fruit  which  is  to  the  glory  of 
God. 

What  the  Church  supremely  needs  in  order  to 
the  revelation  of  the  Father  for  the  reconciliation 
of  men  by  the  remission  of  their  sins,  is  abound- 
ing life  ;  and  the  Church  can  only  have  abound- 
ing life  as  she  abides  in  her  Lord,  in  quiet  and 
restful  but  determined  obedience,  to  whatever 
He  may  say  to  her. 


156     THE  MISSIONAEY  MANIFESTO 

In  conclusion,  by  contrast  we  discover  the  rea- 
sons of  failure.  A  divided  heart  towards  the 
King  hinders  the  coming  of  the  Kingdom.  Self 
uncrucified,  so  that  even  in  the  midst  of  toil  for 
Christ  there  lurks  the  motive  of  self-enrichment, 
cancels  the  power  of  service  and  makes  it  useless. 
The  using  of  carnal  methods,  either  in  individual 
life  or  Church  work,  quenches  the  Spirit  of  God, 
and  makes  all  our  service  of  no  avail.  Lack  of 
abundant  and  abounding  life  prevents  the  mani- 
festation of  God,  and  makes  impossible  work  for 
Him. 

The  cure  for  all  such  failure  is  the  maintenance 
of  right  relation  with  Christ.  We  need  a  clear 
vision  of  His  Kingliness,  and  a  complete  surren- 
der thereto  ;  a  keen  sense  of  His  motive,  and  an 
answering  selflessness  by  the  way  of  the  Cross ; 
an  abiding  recognition  of  the  perfection  of  His 
provision  for  us  in  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  a  con- 
stant dependence  on  that  Spirit  for  the  doing  of 
all  our  work  ;  a  perpetual  experience  of  the 
power    of   His    life,   and    an  obedient  abiding 

therein. 

"Christ  for  the  world,  we  sing, 
The  world  to  Christ  we  bring." 

That  is  the  whole  story,  but  in  each  case  those 


THE  FOUEFOLD  EESOURCE         157 

represented  by  tlie  "we^^  must  be  related  to 
Christ.  We  sing  of  Clirist  to  the  world  iu  per- 
fect melody  and  perfect  harmony  ;  and  the  world 
listens  as  to  an  ideal  song.  But  if  there  enter 
into  our  singing  the  thrill  of  passion,  the  touch 
of  a  personal  experience,  then  we  shall  not  only 
sing  of  Christ  to  the  world,  but  bring  the  world 
to  Christ. 

For  the  fulfillment  of  the  Lord's  missionary 
commission  we  must  be  loyal  to  His  Kingship, 
have  fellowship  in  the  suffering  of  His  service, 
depend  upon  the  Spirit  of  His  gift,  and  abide  in 
the  full  tide  of  His  life. 


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